Waging the War
by ciaofay
Summary: Third in a series! Marianne Bradley and the Doctor, a couple made in heaven, right? It finally seems to be going that way. With no Master, and no threats on their life, they could finally be in a comfortable relationship. Wrong! Enter Amy Pond, Rory Williams and an untimely crack in a wall. Also, who's this mysterious stranger than changes Marianne forever? 11XOC
1. Chapter 1

Quite frankly, guys, I find the specials boring as sin. Anddddd I know you're all looking forward to the episodes with the Master, so I'm going to skip right to them!

If this is the first of my books you've started reading, don't be put off by my unenthusiasm to write the specials. If you go all the way back to my first story with Marianne Bradley, A Losing Game, you'll find yourself at series three. So go and read it!

If you're a regular reader, I hope you've noted how Marianne's soul keeps being mentioned, and it has to yet be revealed. Watch out for this guys.

Enjoy...

"What is it, what's wrong?" Marianne sighed, turning over in bed as she heard the Doctor toss and turn for the fiftieth time that night.

"Nothing." He lied.

"No, go on." She told him, looking at him from the corner of her eye. He turned his body to face her.

"When I'm 1500, will you marry me?" He asked, completely serious. Marianne looked confused.

"Why can't I marry you now?" She asked.

"Because it will be a test of faith whether you can put up with me for six hundred years. I've figured it all out in my mind. Only when I'm 1500, can we fully determine whether you could live and put up with me for the rest of your life." The Doctor explained. Marianne looked at him square in the eye for about a minute.

"You're crazy." She told him. He opened his mouth to protest but she'd kissed him before he could utter anything. "But fine. When you're 1500, I will marry you." She promised, grinning. He smiled at her, his worry disappeared for another six hundred years.

_It is said that in the final days of Planet Earth, everyone had bad dreams. To the west of the north of that world, the human race did gather, in celebration of pagan rite, to banish the cold and the dark. Each and everyone one of those people had dreamt of the terrible things to come. But they forgot, because they must. They forgot their nightmares of fire and war and insanity. They forgot, except for one._

The Doctor, wearing a straw hat and a pink lei walked from the TARDIS, pulling his jacket tighter to his body as he braced the cold and the snow.

"Come on!" He yelled impatiently behind him, leaning on the doorframe. He smiled when he heard someone sigh, and something bang, and finally heavy footsteps crashing to the door. When the culprit emerged, she looked to be in a bad mood. Her thick brunette curls were in disarray and she had a thick parka on.

"It's too cold." She moaned.

"You've been trying hats on, haven't you?" The Doctor smirked, brushing some of her hair down.

"We've just come from Hawaii to freezing cold Ood-Sphere. Of course I tried on hats." Marianne frowned.

"Grumpy." He told her. They began walking through the snow until they found what they'd been looking for. Ood Sigma.

"Ah! Now! Sorry! There you are." The Doctor said when they saw him, putting his hands in his pockets. "So, where were we? I was summoned, wasn't I? An Ood, in the snow, calling to me. Well, I didn't exactly come straight here. We had a bit of fun, y'know, travelled about, did this and that. Got into trouble, you know us. It was brilliant." The Doctor grinned, taking Marianne's hand. "We saw the Phosphorous Carousel of the Great Magellan Gestadt. Saved a planet from the Red Carnivorous Maw. Named a galaxy Alison." The Doctor listed.

"You're rabitting." Marianne hissed.

"Anyway... What d'you what?" The Doctor cleared his throat.

"You should not have delayed." Ood Sigma told them both.

"The last time we were here, you said my song would be ending soon. And I'm in no hurry for that." The Doctor said seriously.

"You will both come with me." Ood Sigma informed them both. Marianne raised her eyebrows. They both followed Ood Sigma as he walked through the snow.

"So, how old are you now, Ood Sigma?" Marianne asked. They looked ahead to find a city carved from stone and ice.

"Ah! Magnificent!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Oh, come on! That is... splendid! You've achieved all this in how long?" He asked, grinning.

"100 years." Sigma replied. The Doctor turned serious.

"Then we've got a problem. All of this is way too fast. Not just the city. I mean your ability to call me. Reaching all the way to the 21st Century. Something's accelerating your species way beyond normal." The Doctor claimed.

"And the Mind of the Ood is troubled." Sigma explained.

"Why, what's happened?" Marianne asked.

"Every night we have bad dreams." Sigma told them both.

"Through the dark and the fire and the blood, always returning, returning to this world. It is returning and he is returning and they are returning, but too late, too late, far too late, he is come." The Elder Ood said as Sigma led the Time Lords into the Elder Council Chamber.

"Sit with the Elder of the Ood and share the dreaming." Sigma told them both.

"So.. Right. Hello!" The Doctor exclaimed as they both sat down.

"You will join. You will join. You will join. Yuo will join. You will join." The Elders chanted. They all held hands, making a circle, and the Doctor and Marianne both saw the Master's laughing face.

Marianne froze, and tensed up, full of thoughts of him. The Doctor gritted his teeth.

"He comes to us, every night. I think all the peoples of the universe dream of him now." The Elder said.

"That man is dead." The Doctor said through gritted teeth, not happy with the way Marianne had put her shields up.

"There is yet more. Join us." The Elder said, and they joined hands once more. "Events are taking shape, so many years ago, and yet changing the now. There is a man... So scared." The Ood said, and they got an image of Wilf sat at a table, deeply worried about something.

"Wilfred! Is he all right? What about Donna, is she safe?" The Doctor asked, immediately worried.

"You should not have delayed, for the lines convergence are being drawn across the Earth, even now. The king is in his counting house..." This time they got an image of a rich father and daughter.

"I don't know who they are." Marianne stated.

"And there is another. The most lonely of all, lost and forgotten." They were show Lucy Saxon in a cell, sobbing into her hands.

"The Master's wife." The Doctor said.

"We see so much, but understand little. The woman in the cage, who is she?" Ood Sigma asked them both.

"She was... It wasn't her fault... She was... The Master, he's a Time Lord, like us. I can show you." The Doctor nodded. They joined hands and the Doctor showed them everything he knew about the Master and Lucy. "The Master took the name of Saxon. He married a human, a woman called Lucy. And he corrupted her. She stood at his side while he conquered the Earth."

Marianne hinted a tiny sense of bitterness. Okay. Maybe a lot of bitterness.

"I reversed everything he'd done, so it never even happened. But Lucy remembered." The Doctor concluded, not liking Marianne's silence. "She held him in her arms. We burnt the body!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"The Master is dead." Marianne confirmed quietly.

"And yet, you did not see... " The Elder Ood told them both. This time, as they watched an image of the Doctor and Marianne walking away from the Master's pyre, they saw him drop something as his body burnt.

"What's that?" The Doctor asked. It was a ring. They watched as a woman picked it up/

"Part of him survived." Marianne stood up. "We have to go!" She exclaimed. The Ood would not release their hands, however.

"But something more is happening, Doctor. The Master is part of a greater design, because a shadow is falling over creation. Something vast is stirring in the dark. The Ood have gained this power to see through time because time is bleeding." The Ood said. "And it all comes down to one girls decision." The Elder Ood said. It looked up and the Time Lords found they all had red eyes.

"Shapes of things once lost are moving through the veil. And these events from years ago threaten to destroy this future. And the present. And the past." The Elder Ood continued.

"What do you mean?" Marianne demanded.

"This is what we have seen. The darkness heralds only one thing. The end of time itself put into the hands of a girl."

The Doctor and Marianne both ran from the cave and back out onto the snowy surface.

"Events that have happened are happening now." The Elder's voice travelled with them. They continued running through the snow. They reached the TARDIS and launched through the doors.

Sparks flew from the console as they worked them furiously. They ignored the fire as they tried to make it go faster and faster.

It finally materialised and they both dashed outside into a street which they had pinpointed as the location of the Master. It was supposed to be a large prison, but what they found was heaps and piles of rubble. The prison had been burnt down recently.

Marianne began climbing on top of a pile of dust, and the Doctor followed, his hands in his pockets as he did so. They both inhaled deeply, searching for the Master's scent.

Suddenly, the sound of something metal being hit four times resonated through the dump.

"It's him. The drums." Marianne breathed, feeling her heart rate escalating. The Doctor bit his tongue to stop him from saying something he'd regret. He understood and accepted that Marianne and the Master used to be in love, but wasn't that the past? He'd counted on never seeing him again.

Now he understood what was meant when Davros said that 'Her Master would return.'

Marianne began running to the site of the sound, with the Doctor following helplessly behind. They sprinted past rusting metal and piles of rubbish as they followed their noses. The Doctor watched sadly as Marianne's hair billowed out into thick curly clouds as she ran.

They finally spotted each other, and Marianne stopped running, and simply looked at him. The Master emitted a loud roar before leaping into the air and laughing- his jump too high to perceive. Marianne dashed off again, her hair nearly hitting the Doctor with the force of her acceleration. The Master laughed, his face changing into that of a skeleton's.

"Please, let me help! You're burning up your own life force!" Marianne yelled after him. The Master grinned at her and ran off again. The Time Lord's chased him, only to be stopped by Wilfred Mott, Donna Noble's grandfather.

"Oh, my gosh. It's you two. You're a sight for sore eyes." Wilf sighed with relief and happiness when he saw them both.

"Out of the way!" Marianne exclaimed, climbing on top of a pile of girders to look for the Master.

"Did we do it? Is that them?" An elderly man, Winston, asked.

"Tall and thin, brown coat." One man said.

"Short and slim, long curly brown hair." A woman said.

"The Silver Cloak. It worked. Cos Wilf phoned Netty, who phoned June, and her sister lives opposite Broadfell, and she saw the police box, and her neighbour saw these two heading west." A woman explained, Minnie. The Doctor helped Marianne down. Minnie was peeking looks at him.

"Wilfred, have you told them who we are? You promised!" The Doctor exclaimed, frustrated.

"No, I just said you were a doctor and she was your girlfriend, that's all. And I might say, both of you, it is an honour to see you again." Wilf saluted. Marianne smiled sadly.

The Doctor returned the salute, as did Marianne.

"Ooh, but you never said he was a looker! He's gorgeous, take a photo!" Minnie exclaimed. Marianne snorted, and the Doctor glared lightheartedly at her, glad that she was even smiling. Minnie handed a camera to one of her friends.

"Not bad, eh?" The man asked.

"No, very nice." All the elderly people said.

"I'm Minnie. Minnie the Menace. It's a long time since I had a photo with a handsome man." Minnie grinned at him, placing herself next to him in the group photo. The Doctor grabbed Marianne's hand in order to force her to stand on the other side of him, probably for support next to the 'Menace.'

The rest of the people pushed their way into the photo.

"Just get off him, leave him alone, will ya?" Wilf sighed.

"Hush, you old misery." Minnie told him. "Come on, Doctor. Give us a smile. That's it." She said as the Doctor forced a smile. Marianne had a small smile on her face.

"Hold on... Did it flash?" The cameraman asked.

"No, there's a blue light. Try again." Minnie told him.

"I'm all fingers and thumbs." The man replied.

"We're really kind of busy, you know?" The Doctor asked helplessly.

"Oh, it won't take a tick." Minnie smiled demurely, as her hand slid from his waist to his bum as she pinched it. Marianne frowned at that- a step too far?

"Is that your HAND?!" He yelled, dodging her. "Minnie?!" He exclaimed.

"Good boy." Minnie smirked, patting him on his bum.

The Doctor, Marianne and Wilf stepped from the bus.

"Come on, then. Here we are, hurry up." Wilf told them both, as they waved goodbye to the elderly people. Minnie blew a kiss at the Doctor, who frowned. Wilf crossed the street and headed for a cafe, and Marianne and the Doctor followed.

"What's so special about this place? We passed 15 cafes on the way." Marianne stated.

They all sat at a table, the Time Lord's brooding silently.

"Oh, we had some good times, didn't we, though? I mean, all those ATMOS things and planets in the sky and me with that paint gun." Wilf grinned, imitating firing a gun. "I keep seeing things, Doctor, Mari... This face at night." Wilf told them both.

"Who are you?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm Wilfred Mott." Wilf frowned.

"No, people have waited hundreds of years to find us and then you manage it in a few hours." The Doctor explained.

"I'm just lucky." Wilf shrugged, smiling.

"No, we keep on meeting, Wilf." Marianne agreed. "Over and over again, like something's connecting us."

"Yeah, but what's so important about me?" Wilf asked.

"You sound like Donna." Marianne smiled fondly.

"Why you?" The Doctor asked, looking around. "I'm going to die." He said, swallowing deeply. Marianne frowned and took his hand in hers under the table.

"Well, so am I, one day." Wilf said.

"Don't you dare." Marianne cried, and Wilf grinned at the girl.

"All right, I'll try not to, for you."

"But I was told, 'He will knock for times.'" The Doctor inhaled. "That was the prophecy. Knock four times and then..." He trailed.

"Prophecies don't always come true." Marianne reasoned, interrupting him.

"But I thought when I saw you before, you said your people could change, like, your whole body." Wilf said.

"We can still die. If we're killed before regeneration, then we're dead." The Doctor explained, leaning forwards, his elbows on the table. "Even then. Even if I change, it feels like dying. Everything I am dies. Some new man goes sauntering away... With... My Marianne."

"Don't talk like that. I'll always love you. It doesn't matter what form you take. I will love each of your regenerations in different ways." Marianne promised him passionately.

"And I'm dead." He concluded, not replying to her, knowing if he did he'd start crying.

"Hm." Wilf said, looking out the window as if looking for someone.

"What?" The Doctor asked, and he and Marianne both turned to look out the window. There they saw Donna.

"Oh." Marianne said.

"I'm sorry. But I had to. Can't you make her better?" Wilf pleaded.

"Stop it." The Doctor replied darkly.

"No, but you're both so clever. Can't you bring her memory back? Look, just go to her now, go on. Just run across the street. Go up and say hello." Wilf begged sincerely.

"If she ever remembers us, her mind will burn and she will die." Marianne reminded him sadly.

They looked to the window to see Donna slamming her car door in a fit of anger. "Don't you touch this car!" She yelled at the parking attendant.

They all laughed fondly.

"She's not changed." The Doctor smirked.

"Nah." Wilf agreed. "Oh, there he is..." Wilf said, as he saw Donna's fiance carrying some shopping and helping Donna. "Shawn Temple. They're engaged. Getting married in the spring." Wilf smiled.

"Another wedding." The Doctor nodded.

"Yeah."

"Hold on, she's not gonna be called 'Noble Temple?' Sounds like a tourist spot." Marianne pointed out.

"No, it's Temple-Noble." Wilf nodded, smirking.

"Right." The Doctor said with raised eyebrows.

"Is she happy? Is he nice?" Marianne asked quickly, wanting to get the questions out of the way.

"Yeah, he's sweet enough. He's a bit of a dreamer. Mind you, he's on a minimum wage, she's earning tuppence, so all they can afford is a tiny little flat. And then sometimes I see this look on her face. Like she's so sad, but she can't remember why." Wilf explained.

"She's got him." The Doctor pointed out weakly.

"She's making do." Wilf agreed.

"Aren't we all?" Marianne asked.

"Yeah, how about you? Who've you got now?" Wilf asked the two of them.

"No one. Just us, travelling alone. I thought it would be better." The Doctor said, his voice breaking. Marianne looked at the checkered table cloth. "But I did some things that went wrong and Marianne had to stop me. I need..." The Doctor said, wiping his eyes to make him stop breaking down. Marianne sniffed and tears dropped helplessly onto the table.

"Oh, my word." Wilf said, shocked.

"Merry Christmas." Marianne laughed sarcastically.

"Yeah, and you!" Wilf laughed, wiping a tear from his eye.

"Look at us." The Doctor groaned.

"Well, don't you... Don't you see? You know, you both need her, you do. I mean, look, wouldn't she make you laugh again? Good old Donna, eh?" Wilf asked. The Doctor thought a while before nodding in confirmation.

_And so it came to pass that the players took their final places, making ready the events that were to come. The madman sat in his empire of dust and ashes, little knowing of the glory he would achieve, while his saviours looked upon the wilderness, in the hope of changing his inevitable fate. Far away, the idiots and the fools dreamt of a shining future. A future now doomed to never happen. As Earth rolled onwards into night, the people of that world did sleep and shiver, somehow knowing that dawn would bring only one thing. _

_The final day._

The Master looked up and sniffed, smelling the all too familiar scent of Time Lords. He looked over his shoulder to find them both standing a while away from him. He stood up and turned away, grinning like a maniac. The Doctor began walking towards him, while Marianne remained rooted in her spot.

The Master rubbed his hands together and flung them out in front of him, shooting bolts of electricity at the Doctor. They missed and hit the ground. He shot at the other side of him. For the final time, he rubbed his hands together a lot more before shooting and hiting the Doctor square in the chest.

As he fell to the floor, Marianne rushed to his side, in a panick.

As she tried to sit him up, the Master walked over to them both and crouched down, looking intently at Marianne.

"I had estates. Estates that we could have grown up in. Do you remember my father's land, back home? Pasteur's of red grass stretching far across the slopes of Mount Peridition." The Master sighed. "We used to run across those fields all day, calling up at the sky, Mari. Look at us now." He said.

"All that eloquence. But how many people have you killed?" The Doctor asked.

"I am so hungry." The Master complained.

"Your resurrection went wrong. That energy... Your body's ripped open. Now you're killing yourself." Marianne said, sounding as if she was talking to a child.

"And that's human Christmas out there. They eat so much. All that roasting meat, cakes and red wine. Hot, fat, blood food. Pots, plates of meat and flesh and grease and juice. And baking, burnt, sticky hot skin. Hot! It's so hot!" The Master exclaimed. Marianne cringed back into the Doctor.

"Stop it." He warned.

"Slice!" The Master continued.

"Stop it!" The Doctor snapped.

"It's mine! It's mine! Eat it! Eat it!" The Master shouted.

"Stop it!" The Doctor shouted for the final time.

The Master took a deep breath and was once more in control of his body.

"What if I ask you for help?" Marianne asked. "There's more at work tonight than us three." She claimed.

"Oh, yeah?" The Master smirked at her.

"We've been told something is returning." The Doctor continued.

"And here I am!" The Master grinned.

"No, it was something more." Marianne told him.

"But it hurts." The Master groaned, holding his head. Marianne looked as if she didn't know what to do. On one hand, the Doctor would hate it if she comforted the Master. But on the other hand, he looked like he was in so much pain; she couldn't help herself.

"We were told the end of time..." The Doctor tried to explain.

"It hurts, the noise... The noise in my head Marianne. One two three four, one two three four. Stronger than ever before! Can't you hear it?" He asked her.

"I'm sorry." She told him.

"Listen!" He exclaimed. "Every minute, every second, every beat of my hearts, there it is... Calling to me. Please, listen." He begged, crawling to her and taking her hand.

"I can't hear it." She insisted.

"Listen." He growled, grabbing her face and forcing her ear to his hearts. He then flowed the noise into her mind. Marianne gasped and pulled away.

"But that's...!" She exclaimed.

"What?" The Master asked her darkly.

"I heard it." She told him. "But there's no noise, there never has been. It's just your own insanity, it's the... What is it? What's inside your head?" She asked him, her hand once more being held by the mad man.

"It's real! It's real!" He laughed, grinning at her. The Doctor sat next to her, confused and somewhat bitter.

The Master jumped up and launched himself into the sky, as far as they could see. The Time Lord's immediately began running to find him.

They found him stood on a large pile of dirt and rocks.

"All these years, you thought I was mad. King of the wasteland. But something is calling me, what is it? What is it?" He asked them both, believing they truly knew the answer.

A beam of light suddenly fell on the Master and the whirring blades of helicopters could be heard. Another two beams shone on the Doctor and Marianne. Ropes were thrown down and men in uniform and guns climbed down and tranquilized the Master.

"Don't!" Marianne exclaimed, running to him. But they shot her with their tranquiliser gun and she fell down. They did the same to the Doctor, who'd managed to fall with Marianne, his arms around her waist as he'd tried to save her.

The sky had turned from a navy colour to a light blue colour, the sky alive with frost and the cold. Christmas Day.

The Doctor and Marianne, awake but sore, sprinted down the street to get back to the TARDIS. They heard a door open and close behind them, and the all too familiar voice of Wilf.

"We lost him, we were unconscious. He's still on Earth. I can smell him, but he's too far away." The Doctor said through gritted teeth.

"Listen, you can't park there, what if Donna sees it?" Wilf asked them both.

"You're the only one, Wilf. The only connection we can think of. You're involved. If we could work out how. Tell me, have you seen anything? I don't know. Anything strange, odd?" The Doctor asked him.

"Well, there was... No, it's nothing." Wilf frowned.

"Maybe something out of the blue. Connected to your life, something." Marianne urged.

"Well, Donna was a bit strange. She had a funny little moment, this morning, all because of that book." Wilf shrugged.

"What book?" The Doctor and Marianne both asked at the same time.

Sorry it's short, but I'm now working 7 days a week. 5 days of school and colleges and stuff, and 2 days of work. Someone kill me.

But I don't have a job after Christmas, so my Christmas present to you will be a lot of updates after then. I also have 2 other stories to update, not that it's your fault.

WOO. I hope you liked.

I hope you're excited to find out what Marianne's soul is going to be shown as ;-) And what's going to happen with her ever increasing relationship with the Master. Eh? Eh? Good right. I know.

Love you all!

-Fay x


	2. Chapter 2

Wilf rushed from his house, this time with a book in his hands.

"Here you are, his name's Joshua Naismith." Wilf told the travelers, handing the book over. It had a picture of a man on the front.

"That's the man. We were show him, by the Ood." The Doctor nodded.

"By the what?" Wilf frowned.

"By the Ood." Marianne repeated, louder.

"What's the Ood?" Wilf asked.

"They're just Ood." The Doctor smiled. "But it's all part of the convergence, maybe... Maybe touching Donna's subconscious." He said.

"Oh, she's still fighting for us, even now. The Doctor-Donna-Mari." Marianne smiled. Syvlia stepped outside, glaring at the three of them,

"You! But... Get out of here!" She exclaimed.

"Merry Christmas." Marianne said sarcastically.

"But she can't see you! What if she remembers?" Sylvia asked.

"Mum, where are those tweezers?" They heard Donna shout from inside the house.

"Go!" Sylvia hissed.

"We're going." The Doctor told her, sadly taking Marianne's hand and walking down the street, away from Donna Noble.

"Yeah, me too." Wilf told her, following them both.

"Oh, no, you don't!" Sylvia exclaimed, following her Father.

"Mum? Gramps?" Donna stuck her head out of the front door, looking for them both.

"Dad, I'm warning you." Sylvia chased after the three of them.

"Bye, see you later." Wilf smirked. Sylvia sighed.

"Stay right where you are!"

"You can't come with me." The Doctor said, unlocking the TARDIS.

"You're not leaving me with her." Wilf refuted, looking worriedly at his daughter.

"Fair enough." Marianne nodded, letting him in. The Doctor followed them both in, shutting the door on them all.

The Doctor began rushing around the console, while Wilf watched him, taking it all in. Marianne, however, was staring into space. She knew her feelings for the Master did not come close to her feelings for the Doctor, but she still had feelings for him nonetheless. And she knew how much it hurt the Doctor because she could sense it in his mind.

She sighed and walked up to him, kissing his cheek. The Doctor knew, deep in his hearts, that this would either make them stronger, or break their relationship entirely. It all rested on her soul.

"Naismith." The Doctor said as Marianne went to the other side of the console. "If I can track him down..." The Doctor said, only just noticing Wilf's faraway look. "Ah. Right. Yes. Bigger on the inside. D'you like it?" The Doctor asked him.

"I thought it'd be cleaner." Wilf frowned.

"Cleaner? We could take you back home right now." The Doctor smirked.

"Listen, Doctor, if this is a time machine- that man you're chasing, why can't you just pop back to yesterday and catch him?" Wilf asked.

"I can't go back into my own timeline, I have to stay relative to the Master within the causal nexus. Understand?" The Doctor asked.

"Not a word." Wilf grinned.

"Welcome aboard." Marianne shook his hand.

"Thank you." Wilf told her sincerely.

The TARDIS had landed in the Naismith ground, in the many acres of land the family had. The Doctor and Marianne both stepped out of the TARDIS. Wilf followed, delighted.

"We've moved! We've really moved!" He exclaimed.

"You should stay here." The Doctor advised him, looking around the stables they'd landed in.

"Not bloody likely!" Wilf exclaimed.

"And don't swear." Marianne chastised. The Doctor grinned at her when Wilf wasn't looking.

"Hold on." He said, as he fiddled with the TARDIS remote. "Just a second out of sync. Don't want the Master finding the TARDIS, that's the last thing we need."

The three of them walked along the side of one of the many Naismith buildings. They began walking through an arch but they hid when they saw two armed guards.

"That book said he's a billionaire. He's got his own private army." Wilf whispered.

"Down here." The Doctor told his friends, as he used the sonic on a small door and pushing them through before the guards spotted them.

The three of them peeked around a corner, having managed to get away from the guards.

"Nice gate!" The Doctor said.

"Hello." Marianne said, eyes wide as they came face to face with a woman working on computers. She was obviously alien.

"Look, sorry, don't call security, or I'll tell them you're wearing a Shimmer. Cos I reckon anyone wearing a Shimmer doesn't want the Shimmer to be noticed or they wouldn't need a Shimmer in the first place." Marianne ranted, confusing herself.

"I'm sorry, what's a Shimmer?" The woman, Addams, asked.

"Shimmer." The Doctor said, using the sonic on her and revealing her to be a green and spiky alien.

"Oh my Lord, she's a cactus!" Wilf exclaimed, astounded.

"Miss Addams?" A male voice said over the radio. The Doctor and Marianne turned their attention to screens, which showed Joshua Naismith and the Master talking in a lab.

"The visitor will be restrained." A doctor said to the Master.

"What? But I repaired it!" The Master exclaimed, angry.

"I'm not an idiot. Don't let him anywhere near that thing." Naismith said, as a guard approached the Master with a straight jacket. Naismith laughed nastily at him.

"He's got it working. But what is it?" Marianne asked.

"What's working? What are you doing here?" A man asked, walking into the basement.

"Shimmer!" Marianne exclaimed as the Doctor used his sonic and turned him into a green cactus alien too.

"Now tell me, quickly, what's going on, the Master, Harold Saxon, Skeletor, whatever you're calling him, what's he doing up here?" The Doctor asked quickly.

The real medical doctor finished tying the Master into his straight jacket.

"Your reputation precedes you, sir. I have no doubt you've laid trapos. Perhaps explosives, a means of escape and murder. But everything you've done to the Gate will be checked and double checked before anyone stands inside." Naismith told him, and the Master simply smirked up at him.

"But I checked the readings. He's done good work. It's operational." The male technician said.

"Who are you? We met someone like you. He was brilliant, but he was little and red. Remember Mari?" The Doctor asked, and Marianne nodded and smiled.

"No, that's a Zocci." Addams told them.

"We're not Zocci. We're Vinvocci. Completely different." The male technician shrugged, slightly offended.

"And the Gate is Vinvocci. We're a salvage team. We picked up the signal when the humans reactivated it, and as soon as it's working, we can transport it to the ship." Addams explained.

"But what does it do?" Marianne asked.

"Well, it mends, it's as simple as that. It's a medical device to repair the body. It makes people better." Addams shrugged.

"No, there's got to be more. Every single warning says that the Master's going to do something colossal." The Doctor walked and checked the equipment.

"So that Gate thing's like a sickbed, yes?" Wilf asked.

"More or less." Addams nodded.

"Well, pardon me for asking, but why's it so big?" Wilf then questioned.

"Oh, good question." Marianne patted his back as she walked past him to the Doctor.

"It doesn't just mend one person at a time." Addams scoffed.

"That would be ridiculous." The male technician grinned.

"It mends whole planets." Addams explained.

"It does what?!" Marianne exclaimed.

"It transmits the medical template across the entire population." Addams nodded. Both the Doctor and Marianne ran from the room. They ran from the basement to the main floor and lab- where the Master was being kept with Danes, the doctor.

"Turn the Gate off, right now!" The Doctor demanded.

"At arms!" Danes exclaimed, and the guards aimed their rifles at them both.

"Whatever you do, just don't let him near that device." Marianne said quietly.

"Oh, like that was ever gonna happen." The Master smirked, removing the straight jacket with a burst of energy. He leaped into the gate with a scream. "Homeless, was I? Destitute and dying? Well, look at me now!" He exclaimed grandly.

"Deactivate it. All of you, turn the whole thing off!" The Doctor exclaimed. No one could seem to make themselves move, however.

"He's... Inside my head." Naismith groaned, as he and his daughter shook their heads.

"Get out!" Marianne shouted, but the Master hit her with a bolt of energy, making her fall to the floor.

"No!" The Master yelled, in agony at what he'd done, but not able to properly control his body.

"Marianne!" The Doctor bent by her side.

"Doctor, there's this face..." Wilf said. The Doctor helped Marianne up and they stumbled to Wilf.

"What is it? What can you see?" The Doctor asked him, an arm around Marianne.

"Well, it's him. I can see him! I can see his face." Wilf frowned.

"Marianne..." The Master groaned, his eyes closed.

The Doctor rushed to the Gate, and tried shutting it down.

"I can't turn it off." He said helplessly.

"That's because I locked it, idiot." The Master snapped. "Marianne, I'm sorry." He said breathlessly.

"It's okay." Marianne assured him, but she didn't know why she felt the need to assure him at all. The Doctor tried to ignore it.

"Wilfred! Get inside, get him out!" The Doctor exclaimed, pushing Wilf into the glass booth and stepping into the other himself. They were like two glass rooms next to each other.

"Just need to filter the levels." The Doctor said. "You see, Naismith hunted down the Master just so this could be built."

"Oh, I can see again. He's gone." Wilf smiled.

"Radiation shielding. Now, press the button. Let me out." The Doctor said.

"You what?" Wilf asked.

"He can't get out until you press the button. That button there." Marianne said, pointing to the button on the console in front of Wilf.

Wilf pressed it and the Doctor rushed from his booth.

"50 seconds and counting." The Master said, getting over the trauma of shooting Marianne.

"To what?" The Doctor asked.

"Oh, you're going to love this." The Master smirked. The whole world were shaking their heads furiously, impossibly fast.

Wilf's mobile began to ring, so he answered it. "Hello? Oh Gawd. Donna?"

_"Where are you?" _ Donna asked over the phone. "_It's Mum and Shawn, something's wrong with them."_ She sounded scared.

"But wait a minute, I mean, what about you? Can't you see anything?" Wilf asked.

"_I can see them, that's bad enough." _ Donna replied.

"What is it? Hypnotism? Mind control? You're grafting your thoughts inside them, is that it?" Marianne asked the Master. He looked calmly and gently at her.

"Oh, that would be way too easy. No, they're not gonna think like me. They're gonnab become me. And... Zero!" He exclaimed. A wave of energy rippled through the Gate and spread across the globe. The Master laughed manically as this happened.

Everyone around them, guards, newsreaders, police officers- everyone turned into the Master. The same face, the same expression.

"He can't have!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"What is it?" Wilf asked, confused.

"_But they've changed! Grandad, that's like... Like the sort of thing that happened before! My head... Oh my head!" _ Donna exclaimed over the phone.

"Doctor! Mari! She's starting to remember!" Wilf cried.

"What is it? What have you done, you monster?!" Marianne yelled at the Master, who looked genuinely wounded at her comment.

"The human race was always your favourite Marianne. I've done this so you'll love me. All of your humans that you love so much, are now me. You love me. You love millions of me. Ha!" He exclaimed.

_'And so it came to pass on Christmas day that the human race did cease to exist. But even then, the Master had no concept of his greater role in events, for this was far more than humanity's end. This day was the day upon which the whole of creation would change forever. This was the day... the Time Lord's returned. For__Gallifrey__. For victory. For the end of time itself.'_

The Master had strapped the Doctor to a chair that used to hold the Master. He had a strap across his mouth and shackles that dug into his wrists. Marianne was stood by his side, occasionally stroking his hand. Wilf was strapped into an ordinary chair.

"Now then, I've got a planet to run." The Master said, walking into the middle of the room and talking to all of the many versions of himself. "Is everybody ready?" He asked them all.

"6,727,949,338 versions of us awaiting orders." Naismith- now the Master- said.

"Enough soliders and weapons to turn this planet into a warship. Nothing to say... Doctor? What's that? Sorry?" The Master smirked, walking over to the Doctor.

"You let him go, you swine." Wilf snapped.

"Oh, your Dad's kicking up a fuss." The Master grinned.

"Yeah? Well, I'd be proud if I was." Wilf insisted, his chin high.

"Hush, now." The Master snapped. "Listen to your Master."

"You're not his Master." Marianne scoffed.

"No, you're lucky. I'm leaving you alone, until you naturally come to me. But if you talk to me like that, I _will_ make you come with me. Your soul will be revealed, Marianne, and your choice will be made." The Master shouted at her.

Wilf's mobile began to ring again.

"But that... That's a mobile.." The Master frowned.

"Yeah, it's mine, let me turn it off." Wilf sighed.

"No, no. I don't think you understand. Everybody on this planet, is me. And I'm not phoning you, so who the hell is that?" The Master demanded, kneeling down and searching Wilf.

"It's nobody. Probably some ring-back call." Wilf said desperately.

Master found Wilf's revolver and held it up. "Oh, and look at this. Good man!" The Master grinned, dropping the gun on the floor. "'Donna'. Who's Donna?" The Master said, looking at the caller ID.

"She's no one. Don't you dare answer it." Marianne told him.

The Master answered it.

"Gramps... Don't hang up... You've got to help me." Donna said over the phone. "I ran out. Everyone was changing."

"Who is she? Why didn't she change?" The Master demanded.

"Well, it was the thing the Doctor and Marianne did, they did it to her. The Metacrisis." Wilf explained.

"Oh, he loves playing with Earth girls! Uh!" The Master exclaimed.

"Find her. Trace the call." The Master ordered, looking at Marianne as if he wanted her to challenge him.

"Do that and I will never choose you." Marianne told him darkly.

"Well maybe now's the time to choose. Choose the Doctor, and Donna here gets killed. Nastily. Or... Choose me and Donna can come here, and you can look after her. With her Grandfather." The Master told her. "Think about it. You've got two minutes to make a decision." The Master nodded at her.

Marianne paled, and looked at the Doctor, who looked furious. Making her choose. But he knew who she would choose. But would she choose the Master because she loved him, or to save Donna's life?

He hoped it was the latter. He really hoped it was the latter. The former would cause him indescribable pain.

"One minute." The Master smirked in a sing song voice.

Marianne didn't know what to do. Was this showing her soul? It couldn't be! He was blackmailing her!

"You." She whispered, looking at the Master. He smiled triumphantly. The Doctor looked down and Wilf looked relieved.

"Thank you, darling." He said sincerely, his eyes watering.

"Get Donna here." The Master said gently, holding his hand out for Marianne to take. She did so, and the Master draped his arm around her tense waist. She looked at the Doctor without any emotion. Did she want his arm around her waist or not? Not even she knew.

Donna was still on the phone to Wilf.

"Gramps. Why are there men coming for me? They're everywhere..." She trailed, sounding scared. "It's not just them... I can see those things again. Those creatures. Why can I see a giant wasp?" Donna asked.

"Donna, don't think about that!" Wilf exclaimed.

"And it hurts. My head. It keeps getting hotter and hotter and hotter!" She screamed, and energy poured from her, knocking the Master's to the ground. "What did I..?" She asked, before collapsing.

"Either she comes here, or she's dead. You'll have to go and get her." The Master said. "Take him." He said, kissing her neck before handing her to his security guard... The Master.

"But she'll remember." Wilf insisted.

"Not necessarily." Marianne shrugged. "Let's just hope for the best."

Marianne bent down and with the help of the guard, she picked Donna up from the back alley and carried her into the black car she'd been driven in.

"Oh, Donna." She sighed, stroking her hair as she slept.

When the three of them got back, Marianne made sure that Donna would be put into a bed and be waited on. Wilf smiled when he her demands for his granddaughter.

When she returned, the Master made her stand by his side once again.

"Tell me, where's the TARDIS?" He asked her, stroking her hair.

"You could be so wonderful." She told him.

"Where is it?" He demanded.

"You're a genius. You're brilliant. You are, I swear, you really are. But you could be so much more. You could be beautiful. And you don't have to do this, you could just travel. To have the privilege of seeing the whole of time and space, that's ownership enough." She told him.

"Would it stop? The noise in my head?" He asked her.

Marianne then noticed that the Doctor was free to talk again.

"I can help." He promised. He knew by how cold Marianne was towards the Master when she knew Donna was safe that she'd chosen him only for Donna. The Doctor would always support her.

"I don't know what I'd be without that noise." The Master shrugged.

"Wonder what I'd be, without you." Marianne mused, thinking back through all of their memories.

"Yeah." The Master sniffed, smiling at her.


	3. Chapter 3

"What does he mean? What noise?" Wilf demanded, brow furrowed in confusion.

"It began on Gallifrey." The Master explained. "As children. Not that you'd call it a childhood. More a life of duty. Eight years old. I was taken for initiation. To stare into the Untempered Schism."

"What does that mean?" Wilf then asked.

"It's a gap in the fabric of reality." Marianne told him, watching as the Master sat down next to her, looking at the floor. "You can see into the Time Vortex itself. And it hurts." She told him.

"They took me there, in the dark." The Master said, his voice breaking. "I looked into time, and I heard it calling to me. Drums. The never ending drums. Listen to it. Listen." He said, looking up at Marianne an gazing intently at her.

"Then let's find it. You, me and the Doctor." Marianne said, her voice weaker as she said her Bond's name.

"Except..." The Master stood. "Oh! Wait a minute. You're good. You'll get me in your _TARDIS,_ and then it will be you and the Doctor, with me in the sidelines, _yet again. _No. You've made your choice, Marianne." The Master snarled, his face flashing like a skeleton.

"The Gate wasn't enough. You're still dying." The Doctor said sourly.

"This body was born out of death. All it can do is die." The Master looked up at him. "But what did you say to me, back in the wasteland? You said 'the end of time.'" The Master frowned.

"We said something is returning. We were shown a prophecy. That's why we need your help." Marianne said, putting a hand on his shoulder. The Master immediately relaxed under her touch.

"What if I'm part of it? Don't you see? The drumbeat is calling from so far away, from the end of time itself. And now it's been amplified six billion times. Triangulate all those signals. Oh, Doctor... That's what your prophecy was! Me! Where's the TARDIS?" He demanded.

"No. Just stop. Just think." The Doctor pleaded, hating being strapped to the table.

"Kill him." The Master pointed to Wilf. Marianne froze. A helmeted soldier aimed his gun at Wilf.

"I need that technology. Tell me where it is, or the old man is dead." He snarled.

"Don't tell him." Wilf cried.

"I'll kill him, right now!" The Master yelled.

"Actually, the most impressive thing about you is that after all this time, you still don't know what will and what won't earn you Marianne's love. Threatening to kill Wilf will not make her love you." The Doctor smirked, and Marianne looked to the ground. "You're still bone dead stupid."

"Take aim." The Master ordered. The soldier aimed.

"You've got six billion pairs of eyes, but you still can't see the obvious, can you?" The Doctor asked.

"Like what?" The Master demanded.

"That guard is one inch too tall." Marianne said quietly. The Master turned to look at the guard who hit him with the butt of his rifle. The soldier took his helmet off to reveal the male Vinvocci, Rossiter.

"Oh, my God. I hit him. I've never hit anyone in my life." Rossiter gasped. Addams, the female Vinvocci, joined him. She and Marianne untied Wilf.

"Well, come on! We need to get out of here, fast!" Addams exclaimed. The Vinvocci both went to untie the Doctor.

"God bless the cactuses!" Wilf grinned.

"That's CACTI." The Doctor corrected.

"That's racist!" Rossiter frowned indignantly. "There's too many buckles and straps." He groaned, trying to untie the Doctor quickly.

"Just... Wheel him?" Marianne suggested, looking around, hoping the Master wouldn't wake up any time soon; or they'd be dead for sure.

Rossiter began to push the Doctor in his chair from behind.

"No, no, no! Get me out! No, no, don't!" The Doctor exclaimed helplessly.

"Which way?!" Rossiter asked.

"This way." Addams told him.

"No, the other way. I've got my TARDIS!" The Doctor refuted.

"I know what I'm doing." Addams insisted.

"No, just... Just listen to me!" The Doctor demanded. "Not the stairs! Not the stairs!" He exclaimed as they wheeled him down the stairs. He winced at every step, the feeling resonating through his body. He looked at Marianne.

"Whoops?" She asked, shrugging, looking helpless too.

"Worst... Rescue... Ever!" The Doctor groaned through gritted teeth.

Addams led the way to the tech room underneath the lab they'd just been in. Rossiter followed, he and Marianne pushing the Doctor. Wilf followed behind.

"Just... Stop and listen to me!" The Doctor demanded. The guards appeared, blocking their entrance to the room. The Master arrived and smirked.

"Gotcha." He grinned.

"You think so?" Addams asked, pressing a button on her watch.

"No, no, no- don't!" Marianne exclaimed. They all disappeared.

They reappeared on the Vinvocci spaceship.

"Now get me out of this thing!" The Doctor exclaimed, annoyed.

"Don't say thanks, will you?" Addams rolled her eyes.

"He's not going to let us go. Just hurry up and get him out!" Marianne yelled.

"Oh, my goodness me... We're in space!" Wilf exclaimed, looking out of the spaceship and down at Earth.

"Come on!" The Doctor exclaimed.

Marianne carefully began undoing the straps on his head, looking broodily into his eyes the whole Vinvocci began undoing all the other buckles and straps, not nearly as careful.

"All right!" Addams exclaimed when he was finally freed from the chair. The Doctor used his sonic on the control panels, which then exploded.

"Where's your flight deck?" The Doctor asked.

"But we're safe! We're a hundred thousand miles above Earth." Addams insisted.

"And he's got every single missile on the planet aimed to fire!" Marianne reminded her.

"Good point." Addams sighed. Addams led them to the flight deck. The Doctor stopped when he realised Wilf wasn't following. He turned back and took the older man by his arm, leading him out.

"But we're in space!" Wilf insisted.

"Yes." The Doctor nodded.

With a laugh, Wilf finally followed.

The five of them ran through the spaceship to the flight deck.

"We've got to close it down!" Marianne exclaimed.

"No chance, love, we're going home." Rossiter snorted.

"We're a salvage team. Local politics have nothing to do with us. Not unless there's a carnival. Sooner we get back to Vinvocci space, the better." Addams agreed.

"You're not leaving." The Doctor said, using his sonic and making the ship go dead. The Doctor shushed them until the only sound was the ship creaking.

"No sign of any missiles... No sign of... Anything. You've wrecked this place!" Addams exclaimed, looking around.

"The engines are burnt out. Just auxiliary lights. Everything else is kaput. We can't move. We're stuck, in orbit." Rossiter sighed.

"Thanks to you. You idiot!" Addams yelled at the Doctor, storming away from them all.

"I know you, though. I bet you've got a plan, haven't you? Eh? Come on! One of you always has a trick up your sleeve. Nice little bit of the spacey stuff, haha, sort of thing? Eh?" Wilf asked. The Doctor and Marianne just both looked at him, solemn.

"Oh, blimey." Wilf sighed.

"He's going to come and get us. Not just because he wants me dead, but because he wants to take what's rightfully his. Marianne chose him, he won't be happy that she's gone against her word." The Doctor ran his hands through his hair.

"I did it for Donna." Marianne promised quietly, but the Doctor wasn't even sure if that was true.

Wilf walked in to find two silent and sad Time Lord's working on the wiring in the ship.

"Aye, aye. Got this old tub mended?" Wilf asked.

"Just trying to fix the heating." The Doctor explained.

"D'you know, I've always dreamt of a view like that." Wilf chuckled, sitting down beside Marianne. "I'm an astronaut. It's dawn over England, look. Brand new day. My wife's buried down there. I might never visit her again now. D'you think he changed them, in their graves?" Wilf asked.

Marianne put her arm around his shoulder. "I'm sorry." She told him.

"No, not your fault." He promised her.

"Isn't it?" She asked bitterly.

"Ooh... 1948. I was over there. End of the Mandate in Palestine. Private Mott. Skinny little idiot, I was, stood on this rooftop, the middle of a skirmish. It was like a blizzard, all them bullets in the air. The world gone mad. Yeah, you don't want to listen to and old man's tales, do you?" He asked them both.

"It's fascinating." Marianne promised him.

"Anyway, we're older than you." The Doctor raised an eyebrow.

"Get away." Wilf told him.

"I'm 906. She's 894." The Doctor told him, smiling.

"What, really, though?" Wilf asked.

"Yeah." Marianne grinned.

"900 years. We must look like insects to you." Wilf said.

"I think you look like giants." The Doctor told him.

"Listen. I... I want you to have this." Wilf took his gun out and handed it to the Doctor. "I've kept it all this time, and I thought..."

"No." The Doctor said.

"No, but if you take it, you could..."

"No. You had that gun in the mansion. You could have shot him there and then." The Doctor realised.

"Too scared, I suppose." Wilf shrugged.

"I'd be proud." Marianne said coarsely.

"Of what?" Wilf asked.

"If you were my Dad." She replied.

"Me too." The Doctor added.

"Oh, come on, don't start. But you said... You were told... He will knock four times. And then you die. Well, that's him, isn't it? The Master? That noise in his head? The Master is going to kill you." Wilf told him.

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded.

"Then kill him first." Wilf handed the gun to the Doctor once more.

"And that's how the Master started. It's not like I'm innocent. I've taken lives. I got worse- I got clever. Manipulated people into taking their own. Sometimes I think a Time Lord lives too long. I can't. I just can't." The Doctor said, his voice cracking. "How could I look her in the eye with a gun in my hands?" The Doctor asked, a tear sliding down his cheek. Marianne grabbed his face and pulled him to hers, kissing him desperately.

"Oh, heck." Wilf muttered, looking away as they hugged each other, the Doctor burying his face into her hair as he sobbed.

"If the Master dies, what will happen to all the people?" Wilf asked them quietly.

"Don't know." Marianne sniffed.

"What happens?" Wilf demanded.

"The template snaps." The Doctor nodded.

"What, they go back to being human?" Wilf asked. The Doctor nodded again. "They're alive and human? Then don't you dare, Doctor. Don't you DARE put him before them. Now you take this, that's an order, Doctor. Take the gun. You take the gun and save your life." Wilf said.

"Please don't die. You're the most wonderful man, and I don't want you to die." Marianne sobbed, the emotion getting too much for her. She grabbed the gun herself and pushed it into the Doctor's hands, forcing him to take it. He looked at her darkly, before putting it on the floor behind her.

"Never." He whispered in her hair as he hugged her once more.

_"A star... Fell from the sky" _The Master's voice came over the tannoy. _"Don't you want to know where from? Because now it all makes sense. The whole of my life. My destiny. The star was a diamond. And the diamond is... A__Whitepoint__Star. And I have worked all night to sanctify that gift. Now the star is mine. I can increase the signal and use it as a lifeline. Do you get it now? Do you see? Keep watching. This could be... Spectacular. Over and out."_

__The Doctor and Marianne had both frozen, confused but terrified.

"What's he on about? What's he doing? What does that mean?" Wilf demanded.

"A Whitepoint Star is only found on one planet. Gallifrey. Which means..." The Doctor trailed.

"It's the Time Lord's." Marianne concluded. "The Time Lords are returning."

"Well, that's good, isn't it? That's your people." Wilf smiled. The Doctor took the gun from behind where he was sat. He stood up, helping Marianne up too, before he took off running.

The Doctor and Marianne both rushed into the room where the Vinvocci were sulking. The Doctor turned the PA on and immediately they heard the four beats- the sound of drums.

"What's that?" Addams asked.

"Coming from Earth. It's on every single wavelength." Rossiter checked the computer, bewildred.

"But you said your people were dead, past tense." Wilf mentioned.

"Inside the Time War, when the whole War was locked- like, sealed inside a bubble. It's not a bubble, but think of a bubble. Nothing can get in or out of the time lock. Don't you see? Nothing can get in or out, except something that was already there." The Doctor said, working furiously.

"The signal. Since he was a little boy." Marianne explained to Wilf.

"If they can follow that signal, they can escape, before they die." The Doctor added.

"Well, big reunion. We'll have a party." Wilf grinned.

"There will be no party." Marianne said.

"But I've heard you both talk about your people like they're wonderful." Wilf frowned.

"That's how we choose to remember them. The Time Lord's of old. But then they went to war, an endless war, and it changed them, right to the core. You've seen our enemies, Wilf. The Time Lord's are more dangerous than any of them." The Doctor said, looking up at Marianne through his lashes, gauging her expression.

"Time Lords? What lords? Anyone want to explain?" Addams demanded.

"Right, you!" Marianne exclaimed, pointing at Addams. "This is a salvage ship, yeah? You go traveling the asteroid fields for junk?" She asked.

"Yeah, what about it?" Addams asked.

"So, you've got asteroid lasers!" She exclaimed.

"Yeah, but they're all frazzled." Rossiter frowned.

"Consider them unfrazzled." The Doctor flipped a lever and two doors on opposite sides of the room slid open. "You there- I'm going to need you on navigation. And you, get in the laser pod. Wilfred?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah?"

"Laser number two. The old soldier's got one more battle." Marianne smiled.

"Right." Wilf said, tapping Marianne as he stood up.

"This ship can't move. It's dead!" Addams insisted.

"Fix the heating." The Doctor said, pushing two large levers and causing the ship to start up.

"But now they can see us." Addams then frowned.

"Oh, yes!" The Doctor exclaimed, in his usual manner.

"This is my ship, and you're not moving it. Step away from the wheel." Addams instructed.

"There's an old Earth saying, Captain. A phrase of great power, and wisdom, and consolation to the soul in times of need." The Doctor told her.

"What's that, then?" Addams asked.

"Allons-y!" Both the Doctor and Marianne exclaimed, the Doctor taking control of the wheel and Marianne holding on for dear life. The Doctor drove the ship towards Earth.

"Come on!" The Doctor exclaimed, as the ship began to burn as they entered the atmosphere.

"You are mad!" Addams roared.

"You two. What did I say? Lasers!" The Doctor ordered.

"What for?" Rossiter asked.

"Because of the missiles. We've got to fight off the entire planet!" The Doctor exclaimed manically. Rossiter and Wilf both headed for the laser pods.

"Hey! How does this thing work?" Wilf called.

"The tracking's automatic. Just deploy the trigger on the joystick." Rossiter told him. Wilf soon got the hang of the controls.

"We've got incoming." Addams said calmly.

"You two! Open fire!" Marianne yelled.

"Oh, my God!" Rossiter yelled.

"Open fire! Come on Wilf!" The Doctor urged as the missiles headed ever closer.

"Whooo! I wish Donna could see me now!" Wilf exclaimed, thinking of his Grandaughter back in the Naismith house.

"And there's more. 16 of them. Oh! And another 16." Addams sighed, soon after they'd decimated the first round.

"Go to the rear gun lasers!" The Doctor exclaimed. Addams headed for the door.

"Open fire!" Marianne exclaimed. Rossiter and Wilf took out a large number of the missiles. The Doctor and Marianne's hectic flying sent Addams back and forth across the room. It seemed the Time Lord's couldn't decide on which way to go.

"No, you don't!" The Doctor said as he saw her. He made the ship spin around. Through their piloting and Rossiter and Wilf's relentless shooting, they'd taken out every single missile.

The front window, however, didn't survive the attack, smashing under the pressure.

"Lock the navigation." The Doctor ordered.

"Onto what?!" Addams asked.

"The Naismith Mansion!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Destination?" Marianne asked.

"50 klicks and counting." Addams replied. "We've locked onto the house. We are going to stop, though?" She asked, as they skimmed the English southern coast. The Doctor looked grimly at everyone, including Marianne. "Doctor, we are going to stop?" Addams asked again.

"Doctor! Doctor, you said you were going to die!" Wilf exclaimed.

"He said what?" Addams demanded.

"But is that all of us? I won't stop you, sir, but is this it?" Wilf asked.

"Of course it's not." Marianne said in a detached and unsure voice. The Doctor aimed the ship right at the mansion, pulling up just at the last moment.

He lifted up a hatch from the floor. He took the gun from his pocket and he paused to look at Marianne.

"Don't think you're coming with me." He told her. "It's too dangerous."

"Ha. Try and stop me." She said, climbing out of the hatch with him, both of their legs dangling out. She stopped to blow a kiss at Wilf, before taking the Doctor's hand and launching them both out of the ship.

They fell through the sky, their hands still intertwined as she screamed and he yelled.

They both crashed heavily through the glass dome of the Naismith mansion and fell to the floor in the centre of the room. Marianne groaned, most of her body cut from the glass. The Doctor weakly aimed his shaking hand, with gun in it, at the Time Lord president. Weak from the fall, his arm dropped to the floor.

He tried to stand up, well aware that Marianne was trying to do the same thing.

"My Lord Doctor. My Lord Master. And who's this? Another Lost Child of Ours. We are gathered for the end." The Time Lord president said, wearing his red robes. The Doctor and Marianne simply led on the floor, panting and bleeding.

Grunting, the Doctor rose, first to all floors, then to his knees, finally staggering to his feet.

"Listen to me, you can't..." He grunted.

"It is a fitting paradox that our salvation comes at the hands of our most infamous child." The President interrupted, watching with knitted eyebrows as he watched Marianne slowly get to her feet , too.

"Ah. I thought it was you. The Master's old lover." The President smirked. The Doctor bit his lip. She'd had her shields up. Was that to block the Doctor from sensing her pain? "Oh. That is interesting. You're the Doctor's Bond? You do get around, don't you?" He asked.

"Stop it." The Master warned. Marianne looked gratefully at him.

"He's not saving you. Don't you realise what he's doing?" The Doctor asked groggily.

"Hey, no, hey! That's mine. Hush. Look around you. I've transplanted myself into every single human being. But who wants a mongrel little species like them? Because now I can transplant myself into every single Time Lord. Except Marianne, of course. Oh yes, Mr President, sir. Standing there all noble and resplendent and decrepit. Think how much better you're going to look as me!" The Master grinned. The President held out a gauntlet covered hand, causing it to glow, and the entirety of the human race returned back to normal.

"No, no, no! Don't! Stop it, no!" The Master exclaimed.

"On your knees, mankind." The President ordered. The humans in the room knelt down, terrified.

"No, that's fine, that's good. You said salvation. I still saved you, don't forget that." The Master panicked.

"The approach begins." The President said. There was a low rumbling and the room got much, much brighter.

"Approach of what?!" The Master exclaimed.

"Something is returning." Marianne reminded him. "Don't you ever listen? That was the prophecy. Not someone. Something."

"What is it?" The Master breathed.

"They're not just bringing back the species. It's Gallifrey. Right here, right now." The Doctor explained.

There was a loud amount of noise coming from outside, and they turned to see Wilf fighting his way into the room.

"Come on, get out of the way! Get out of the way! Doctor..." Wilf trailed. He turned when he heard an urgent knocking. A man was trapped in one of the booths.

"Somebody, please!" The man exclaimed.

"All right, I've got you." Wilf told him, walking into the other booth and letting him go.

"Wilf, don't!" The Doctor yelled.

The man ran from the booth and the room, leaving Wilf stranded in the other one.

"But this is fantastic, isn't it?" The Master asked, grinning at Marianne. "The Time Lords restored."

"You weren't there in the final days of the war. You never saw what was born. But if the time lock's broken, then everything's coming through, not just the Daleks, but the Skaro Degradations, the Horde of Travesties, the Nightmare Child, the Could Have Been King with his army of Meanwhiles and Never-Were's, the War turning to Hell. And that's what you opened, right above the Earth. Hell is descending!" The Doctor yelled at him.

He watched with gritted teeth as the Master pulled Marianne toward's him. "Tell him to shut up, will you?" He asked. "Doctor- that's our kind of world."

"Just listen! Cause even the Time Lords can't survive that!" The Doctor shouted.

"We well initiate the Final Sanction. The end of time will come at my hand. The rupture will continue, until it rips the Time Vortex apart." The President said.

"That's suicide." Marianne spoke up.

"We will ascend to become creatures of consciousness alone, free of these bodies, free of time, and cause and effect, while creation itself ceases to be." The President said.

"You see now? That's what they were planning in the final days of the War. I had to stop them." The Doctor told the Master.

"Then take us with you, Lord President. Let us ascend to glory." The Master said, pulling Marianne into his lap as he knelt on the floor.

"No." Marianne whispered.

"What?" The Master demanded.

"You are diseased, albeit a disease of our own making. No more." The President said sourly. The Master lowered his arms. The President began to hold his hand out, intent on killing the Master.

A quiet click was heard in the room, and everyone looked up to find the Doctor aiming his gun at the President.

"Miss Marianne. Only one of your love's will win this battle for your heart. Choose your side well, for the other shall be killed." The President told her. "For I will not have children of my own Race defy me like this."

The President looked at her expectantly. "What will her soul choose? Her soul will be revealed." The President spoke. Davros' and Dalek Caan's words flashed in Marianne's mind.

She would choose the Doctor. Obviously, she'd choose him. She would save his life because she loved him more than the Universe itself.

But then. She could choose the Master. She loved the Master too- she always had. She could make him better- make him how he used to be. He had been right, their love had burnt. They could travel, they could do things the Doctor would never do.

Her soul was in turmoil. Choosing between two men you love is not an easy feat. She looked at the Doctor, his bleeding, bust up face. And then she looked at the Master, with his face twisted with agony.

"I don't know." She whispered.

"Let's do it like this then." The President said, aiming both hands at both Time Lord's. "Choose. One will die." He promised.

The Doctor sniffed. "Choose him." He said, in a completely broken voice. He was crying, Marianne realised. "You've always loved him. He didn't betray you." Marianne nodded.

The Master laughed in triumph.


	4. Chapter 4

"Yes!" The Master roared, laughing like a mad man. "My final victory, before we ascend!" He held his hand out for Marianne to grab.

"Oh." She said. And then she smiled. She turned to look at the Doctor and he had tears slipping down his cheeks, silently crying. A cry that meant he couldn't stop. "You thought I chose you?" She asked the Master. He nodded, his hand dropping pathetically to his side. "No. I was just saying that I understand." She smiled.

The Doctor looked up at her. "No, the Master hasn't completely betrayed me, and no, he wouldn't have left me if he thought I was pregnant. But, you want to know something?" Marianne asked. "The Doctor is my soul. I _am_ the Doctor. I hadn't felt like this before I forgave him. To feel so completely in love with someone that they become you. To be so much in love with someone that you don't know how much you can stand. He is my soul." She exclaimed, and the Master turned his loving gaze into a glare.

"Very well." The President said. "The girls soul has been revealed, and the prophecy shall be fulfilled. One child shall die, to teach the other a lesson." He turned to the Master, his hands outstretched. The Master's eyes were wide as he contemplated death for the first time.

He'd never really thought about death, as he usually had a Get Out Free card. Regeneration. But he wouldn't regenerate this time, like he hadn't the last time. Would he?

Nobody had really noticed that the Doctor was still aiming his gun at the President, due to the turmoil of Marianne's soul. Marianne herself was stood by his side, weakly, still hurt from the fall.

"He's the President." The Master murmured, realising that the Doctor could be his Get Out Free card. "Kill him, and Gallifrey could be yours!"

The Doctor turned, then aiming his gun at the Master.

"He's to blame, not me! Oh, the link is inside my head. Kill me, the link gets broken, they go back. You never would, you coward. Go on then, do it. Either way, I'm going to die." The Master said, glaring his thanks at Marianne, who averted her eyes.

The Doctor turned his gun back to the President.

"Exactly. It's not just me. It's him. He's the link. Kill him!"

"Oh, the boy that the girl picked. Which one shall it be? Which one of us will die?" The President asked.

"Get out of the way." The Doctor snarled. The Master smiled and dived out of the way, and the Doctor shot the device holding the diamond. He'd broken the link.

"The link is broken!" Marianne exclaimed. "Go back into the Time War, Rassilon. Go to Hell." Marianne then snarled.

"You'll die with me- children. All three of you." Rassilon spat.

"I know." The Doctor nodded, grabbing Marianne's hand, kissing it before letting it drop back down. They'd all accepted their fate as soon as Marianne chose the Doctor over the Master. There was no way they'd just let him be killed. It would always have ended this way.

"Get out of the way." The Master said softly, directing his comment at Marianne.

"What?" She asked, before seeing him gather energy in his hands.

"Get her away!" The Master yelled at the Doctor. "I will not let her die! But this is my warning, as compensation for my death. I will return." He snarled. "You did this to me!" He then directed at the Time Lords. "All my life! You made me!" With each word, he struck a bolt at Rassilon, causing him to stagger backwards. The Master walked forwards, to get a more direct shot, and was in the pull of the link.

It sent him back to Gallifrey.

It sent him back to Hell with the other Devils.

The energy caused the remaining Time Lord's to fall to the ground for the second time in a very short period of time.

"We're alive." The Doctor groaned. "I've... There was..." He pushed himself into a sitting position. "I'm still alive. You kept me alive!" He exclaimed, laughing at Marianne, who'd also sat up.

She smirked at him, dusting debris from her clothes.

Just as they came to terms with this, there came the sound of four knocks on glass. Marianne stopped with her clothes, and the Doctor froze at the revelation. They slowly turned to the creator of the noise, to find Wilf stood in one of the booths, sheepishly knocking on the glass. He waved at them.

"They've gone, then? Good. Oh. If you could let me out...?" Wilf asked, his voice somewhat muffled.

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded. He stood up, as did Marianne.

"Only, this thing seems to be making a bit of a noise." Wilf shrugged.

"The Master... Left the Nuclear bolt running. It's gone into overload." The Doctor explained.

"And that's bad, is it?" Wilf asked.

"No. Cause all the excess radiation gets vented inside there. Vinvocci glass contains it. All 500,000 rads, about to flood that thing." The Doctor then said.

"Oh. Well, you'd better let me out then." Wilf chuckled.

"Except it's gone critical. Touch one control and it floods." Marianne realised. The Doctor took out his sonic as Marianne turned pale.

"Even this would set it off." He said, holding his sonic up.

"I'm sorry." Wilf said.

"Sure." The Doctor whispered.

"Look, just leave me." Wilf shook his head.

"OK. Right, then. I will." The Doctor began breaking down, and Marianne's eyes pooled with tears. "'Cause you had to go in there, didn't you? You had to go and get stuck, oh yes! 'Cause that's who you are, Wilfred. You were always this. Waiting for me all this time." The Doctor said, emotional.

"No, really. Just leave me. I'm an old man, Doctor, I've had my time." Wilf insisted.

"Well, exactly." The Doctor nodded, his voice thick. "Not remotely important. But me? I could do so much more. So much more!" He yelled. "But this is what I get. My reward. And it's not fair!" He shoved items roughly off the desk and they fell to the floor with a clatter. "Oh. Lived too long." He said, and began walking across the room to the booths.

"Don't you dare." Marianne said, tears dripping down her face. She ran in front of him to try and stop him, but he simply looked at her and moved out of the way.

"No. Please, don't! Doctor! Don't! Please!" Wilf begged.

"Doctor!" Marianne screamed, inbetween sobs. The Doctor put both his hands on the door.

"Wilfred. It's my honour." The Doctor smiled. Marianne began sprinting to the booth, in order to knock him out of the way. But he'd slammed the door on her as soon as she reached him. He pressed the button and released Wilf.

Wilf himself had never heard such a deafening and agonised scream, even when in the war. It was Marianne, he realised, with horror. To look at the girl would break your heart.

The Doctor groaned inside the booth with agony and fell to the floor, his teeth gritted as he curled up in pain. Marianne seemed to move with him, sobbing and slowly collapsing to the floor. Wilf watched until the machine turned off. Marianne inhaled deeply, thinking her soul mate dead.

But he slowly unwound, and then stood up, much to Marianne's delight. She stopped sobbing and tried to stifle her breathing, just watching him with morbid curiosity.

"Hello." She said quietly, still sniffling, as was the Doctor.

"Hi." He told her, still in pain and shocked at the obvious agony Marianne had just been through at his death.

"Still with us?" Wilf asked.

"The system's dead. I absorbed it all. Whole thing's kaput.." The Doctor said, standing up. He seemed to wait for Marianne to do the same, watching her bottom lip tremble. "Oh, now it opens, yeah." He said as he opened the door and stepped out.

As soon as she walked out Marianne had thrown herself on him, tackling him into a bear hug around his neck and not intending on letting go. He laughed, and hugged her back, happy to be alive- barely.

"There we are then, safe and sound. Mind you, you're in a hell of a state. Both of you! You've got some battle scars there." Wilf chuckled.

The Doctor covered his face with his hands. There was a slight sizzling sound, and when he removed his hands, all the cuts had healed. He did the same to Marianne, who squirmed- making the Doctor grin.

"But they've... Your face! How did you do that?" Wilf asked.

"It's started." The Doctor and Marianne both said, suddenly solemn again.

Wilf walked over and hugged the Doctor, sobbing into his jacket. The Doctor remained stoic, gazing at Marianne as she suddenly took off through the hall, rushing to something. Or someone.

"Donna." He said to Wilf, and the old man leaned back and smiled through his immense tears. His granddaughter was alive and well thanks to that girl.

Marianne made sure the tranquiliser had been properly injected into Donna, to make certain that she wouldn't wake up whilst on the TARDIS. They then flew her and Wilf home.

When they walked out of the TARDIS, Sylvia was smiling happily when she saw them all emerge, alive.

"Oh, she's smiling. As if today wasn't bad enough. Anyway... Don't go thinking this is goodbye, Wilf. I'll see you again, one more time." The Doctor smiled.

"What do you mean? When's that?" Wilf asked, very upset.

"Just keep looking and we'll be there." Marianne smiled sadly, her hand clamped in her Doctor's.

"Where are you going?" Wilf asked.

"To get my reward." The Doctor said. Marianne hugged Wilf before they both walked into the TARDIS.

Martha Jones and Mickey Smith were both carrying rifles, dressed in black and fighting Sontaran's.

"I told you to stay behind." Mickey snapped.

"You looked like you needed help." Martha grinned, ducking behind a concrete wall. "Besides, you're the one who persuaded me to go freelance."

"Yeah, but we're being fired at by a Sontaran. A dumpling with a gun. And this is no place for a married woman." Mickey hissed.

"Well, then. You shoudn't have married me." Martha smirked triumphantly. A Sontaran was sneaking up on them, and was about to shoot Martha. Luckily, something had hit it's weak spot and it had crashed to the floor. Martha and Mickey looked up to find the Doctor stood with a mallet in his hand, with Marianne by his side.

"Hey!" Mickey yelled, waving manically. The Doctor smiled, Marianne waved, and the couple walked into the TARDIS.

Martha looked sadly at Mickey as they heard the TARDIS fly away.

In an alien bar a long way away, Captain Jack Harkness was sat by the bar, drowning his sorrows. His sonic blaster was resting on the scratched bar in front of him.

"From the man over there." The barman handed Jack a note and pointed over his shoulder. Jack looked up to see the Time Lord's. He smiled and opened the note.

It said- 'His name is Alonso.' Jack looked back up and Marianne pointed to Alonso Frame sat next to him. Jack looked between the two, smirked, and shook his head as a no. The Doctor frowned, but Jack simply raised an eyebrow. He then saluted them both, and both saluted back- confused.

The church bells chimed and flower petals were thrown on the wind. Donna and Shaun lefrt the church to cheers and laughter. Donna grinned and flung her left hand into the air, showing off her ring. Wilf kissed them both.

"Three cheers. Hip hip..." Wilf urged.

"Hooray!" Everyone chanted.

"Hip, hip..."

"Hooray!"

"Hip, hip..."

"Hooray!"

Donna then took it as her duty to organise everyone for the wedding photo. "Right, come on then, you lot! This photo is just with friends. Come on. And I want all of you in it, come on. That's it. Well, friends and Nerys." Donna giggled. "I'm only joking. Oh, look at her!" Donna exclaimed, taking her place at the front of the group.

"You made me wear peach." Nerys comaplined.

"That's 'cause you are a peach. Furry skin, stone inside, going off." Donna joked.

"Cheese!" Everyone exclaimed as their picture was taken.

"Dad." Sylvia suddenly said, sounding haunted. Wilf turned to find the Doctor and Marianne watching. The Doctor looked happy, but Marianne was outright grinning at Donna.

Wilf walked over, with his daughter.

"And here you are. Same old faces. Didn't I tell you, you'd be all right? OH! They've arrested Mr Naismith, it was on the news. Crimes undisclosed. And his daughter. Both of 'em, locked up."

"I just wanted to give you this." The Doctor reached into his pocket and handed an envelope to Wilf. "Wedding present. Thing is, I never carry money. So I just popped back in time, borrowed a quid off a really lovely man. Geoffrey Noble, his name was. 'Have it', he said. 'Have that on me.'"

Marianne suddenly hugged Wilf tightly. "Enjoy it. Please, go and do something really special." Marianne whispered. Wilf frowned, and kissed her cheek. Then he and Sylvia both headed back to Donna.

Wilf handed her the envelope. "Oh, don't tell me. It's a bill. Just what I need, right now." She opened it. "A lottery ticket?!" She demanded. "What a cheap present. Who was that? Still, you never know, it's a triple rollover this week. I might get lucky." She said, slipping the ticket into her bodice of the dress.

Wilf and Sylvia both grinned at the Time Lord's, and Marianne was openly crying. The Doctor had to gently pull her into the TARDIS, and Wilf watched them both, teary eyed himself.

"I'm late now, I've missed it. Mickey'll be calling me everything. This is your fault." Rose snapped to her mother as they walked through the snow.

"No, it's not! It's Jimbo! He said he was going to give us a lift, then he said his axle broke. I can't help it." Jackie insisted.

"Get rid of him, Mum, he's useless." Rose said.

"Listen to you! With a mechanic! Be fair though, my time of life, I'm not gonna do much better." Jackie sighed.

"Don't be like that. You never know. There could be someone out there." Rose shook her head.

"Maybe. One day. Happy New Year." Jackie suddenly grinned.

"Happy New Year!" Rose laughed, and they both hugged. "Don't stay out all night."

"Try and stop me." Jackie laughed, and the two split, Jackie running off into the night. Rose sighed and continued walking, passing a doorway where the Doctor was stood on his own. Marianne had left to him to this one, staying put in the TARDIS.

The Doctor suddenly grunted in pain and Rose turned around.

"You all right, mate?" She asked, walking over to him, worried.

"Yeah." The Doctor assured her.

"Too much to drink?" She smirked.

"Something like that." The Doctor smiled tightly through the pain.

"Maybe it's time you went home." Rose advised.

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded.

"Anyway. Happy New Year." Rose grinned.

"And you." He told her, and she walked away. "What year is this?!" He called.

"Blimey, how much have you had?!" She asked, stopping and turning back. The Doctor shrugged.

"2005." Rose smiled.

"2005? I'll tell you what, I bet you're gonna have a really great year." The Doctor smiled.

"Yeah?" Rose asked, and he nodded. "See ya." She ran off, grinning.

The Doctor then collapsed to the floor with pain and Marianne launched from the TARDIS, collapsing in the snow to put her arms around him. He looked up at her, helpless. She helped him up and they struggled to the TARDIS together. They turned back to look at the snow to find an Ood watching them.

"We will sing to you, Doctor. The universe will sing you to your sleep." Ood Sigma calmly told them both. Marianne grabbed the Doctor's hand as he groaned with pain. "This song is ending. But the story never ends." He told them both.

The Doctor leaned heavily against the railings inside the TARDIS, while Marianne watched on with concern.

"You're going to walk off with another man." He breathed through gritted teeth. Marianne was shocked.

"What?" She asked. He looked at her.

"I'm going to die, and he's gonna swagger off with you." He repeated, suddenly looking down.

"Don't you ever think that. I will never forget about you. This you. And I will love each and every version of you. The man that will walk away with me will have your memories, and will be essentially you. And if he's not anything like you, I will love him in a different way." Marianne ranted, getting worked up.

The Doctor looked at her, nodded, and took his jacket off. He draped it over the console and turned back to look at her.

"I'm sorry." He told her sincerely.

"For what?" She asked.

"Leaving you." He replied. "And thank you. For choosing me." He suddenly smiled. Marianne smiled back.

"I love you." She promised.

"I love you too." His smile faded as he felt the energy build up, his whole body glowing. "I don't want to go." He said, looking sad with tears in his eyes as he thought of the new man that would walk away with Marianne.

"I don't want you to go." Marianne cried.

The energy suddenly flung itself from his face, and his arms as he threw them out to his side. The energy gushed from him in tidal waves. It was too much for the TARDIS, however, and she sprung up into sporadic flames, the beams beginning to collapse. Marianne shrieked, and dashed further into the console room, intending to stop it.

She was distracted, however, when a new man screamed with a new voice.

"Legs. I've still got legs, good." The new Doctor kissed his knee. "Arms. Hands. Ooh, fingers- lot's of fingers. Ears, yes. Eyes, two. Nose. I've had worse. Chin, blimey. Hair... I'm a girl!" He exclaimed as he felt the length of it. His hands then moved to his Adam's apple. "No! No. I'm not a girl. And I'm not ginger! And something else, something important... I've still got.." He patted his pockets before turning to look at Marianne. "Ah!" He grinned, flinging his arms out in her direction. "I've still got Marianne! Wonderful!" He beamed at her. Marianne stared back, not amused, and not ready to accept the change.

"Dear, we're crashing." She reminded him.

"Oh, yes!" He roared, "Not good!" He then nodded, before dashing to her side and kissing her cheek. "Let's fix that, shall we?"

So, it's bye bye Tennant! ~sobs~ 'I don't want to go' gets me every time. Did you like it? I tried not to make it too emotional because that's not their style... Anyway.. Now for the Smith era.

-Fay x


	5. Chapter 5

The center of the console was sparking and bursting into flames, and with a newly regenerated Doctor, Marianne could tell that this wouldn't be a good combination of _things._ Her theory came true when, as she turned around to try and stop the flames, she noticed that the Doctor was dangling from the door of the TARDIS, his sonic screwdriver clasped between his teeth. He raised his eyebrows at her, signalling that he needed help. She shrieked and rushed to him, holding her hands out and helping him back aboard the ship. She slammed the doors shut behind him, and they both collapsed against the door, breathing heavily and with a sigh.

"And what do we do now?" Marianne asked, turning her head left to eye up the Doctor, who was looking somewhat raggedy, with a ripped shirt, a dishevelled tie and ripped up converse. It sorely reminded her of her previous Doctor, who she realised with a blue heart, she would never see again. Unless she went back in time, but that would be endangering them all.

While all this chaos was ensuing overhead, a little ginger girl was praying to Santa Claus. She was sat by her bedroom window, eyes closed, hands clasped.

"Dear Santa, thank you for the dolls and pencils and the fish, It's Easter now, so I hope I didn't wake you. But honest, it is an emergency. There's a crack in my wall." The girl turned to the wall where there was, indeed, a large crack spreading across it. She turned back to her prayer. "Aunt Sharon says it's just an ordinary crack, but... I know it's not, because, at night, there's voices. So please, please, could you send someone to fix it? Or a policeman, or..." The girl trailed off, upon hearing the most unusual whirring sound emanating from her garden. She frowned. "Back in a moment." She said.

She stood up from her crouch, picked up her torch from her bedside table and ran to the window. She pulled back the curtains and flashed her torch into the garden, to try and see the source of the whirring noise. There was a blue box, the size of a tall man, laying on it's side with smoke pouring from the doors. Yes. A smoking blue box with doors. Perfect.

"Thank you, Santa." The girl smiled, looking up to the stars to thank him.

The next thing she knew, she was stood outside with her torch and a thick, red duffle coat over her night clothes. Using the small beam of her torch, she slowly walked to the smouldering box. Evidently, it had crashed.

The doors suddenly slammed open from the top face of the box, and two ropes with grappling hooks were thrown out, latching onto a disused lawn mower. The girl watched, wide eyed, as two hands- a man's, and a woman's- came over the edge. Then there were four hands. And then two heads.

The man had big, fluffy hair, and a large chin. He was also wearing ripped clothes and was sopping wet. The girl, had thick, dark curls, which were also wet. She didn't look as dishevelled, but she had a few scorch marks and rips on her clothes.

"Can I have an apple?" The man asked, and the woman next to him closed her eyes in exasperation. "All I can think about- apples. I love apples. Maybe I'm having a craving. That's new- Never had cravings before." He straddled the blue box and looked back inside."Whoa! Look at that!" He exclaimed.

"Are you OK?" The Scottish, ginger girl asked. The man climbed over the edge of the box and jumped down, before holding his hands out and letting the woman use him to help her down too. He kept hold of her hand. the girl noticed.

"Just had a fall." The woman assured her. "All the way down there, right to the library. Hell of a climb up." She frowned.

"You're both soaking wet." The girl accused, quite amused.

"We were in the swimming pool." The man nodded.

"You said you were in the library." The girl reminded him.

"So was the swimming pool." The woman nodded, grimacing.

"Are you the police?" Came the next question.

"Why? Did you call a policeman?" The man asked, frowning.

"Did you come about the crack in my wall?" The girl raised her eyebrows hopefully.

"What crack...?" The man asked, before leaning on a toy swing, and having it fall under his weight. He fell with it. The little girl joined the woman in peering down at him on the ground.

"Are you all right, mister?" The girl asked. The woman looked down at her, quite unfazed about her apparent boyfriend on the floor. Who was letting golden energy slip from his mouth. "Who are you?" She then asked.

"I don't know yet, but she's Marianne." The man said, pointing with a frown to the woman with curly hair. "I'm still cooking. Does it scare you?"

"No, it just looks a bit weird."

"No, the crack in your wall." Marianne corrected. "Does it scare you?" She asked. The girl thought for a moment.

"Yes." She said.

"Well, then, no time to lose. I'm the Doctor. Do everything we tell you, don't ask stupid questions and don't wander off." The Doctor told her. He strode away with purpose and walked straight into a tree, knocking him to the ground. Marianne sniggered.

"You all right?" The girl asked.

Early days. His steering's a bit off." Marianne grinned, helping him up with a smirk.

The girl had led them into her kitchen, where the Doctor was avidly looking around and Marianne was carefully watching the girl.

"If you're a doctor, why does your box say police?" The girl asked. The Doctor took a bite from his apple, chewed it, and then spat it out in disgust. "That's disgusting, what is that?" He asked.

"An apple." The girl replied, as if he was stupid.

"Apples are rubbish, I hate apples." The Doctor complained.

"You said you loved them." The girl refuted.

"No, no, I love yogurt. Yoghurt's my favourite. Give me yogurt." The Doctor requested. The girl ran to the fridge and handed him some yogurt. He poured it into his mouth and spat that out too, causing Marianne to grimace in disgust.

" I hate yoghurt!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"You said it was your favourite." The girl replied, frowning.

"New mouth, new rules." Both the Doctor and Marianne said together.

"It's like eating after cleaning your teeth, everything tasted wro-argh!" He exclaimed, having a mini fit. Marianne didn't bat an eyelid, which the girl found odd. She simply leaned against the kitchen counter and watched him.

"What's wrong with him?" The girl asked her.

"Wrong with him? It's not his fault. Why can't you give him decent food? You're Scottish. Fry something." Marianne instructed light heartedly. The girl sighed and grabbed a pan.

While she fried bacon, the Doctor and Marianne both set about drying their hair.

"Ah! Bacon!" The Doctor exclaimed when the girl gave him some. He sat at the table and began eating the bacon. The girl watched, laughing. The Doctor made a face and once again spat it out.

"Bacon. That's bacon. Are you trying to poison me?" The Doctor demanded. The girl turned on the stove again and began to cook some beans. Marianne watched, a little confused. Why was she up at this time, cooking food? Where was her family?

"Ah, you see. Beans." The Doctor said appreciatively. He obviously hadn't developed enough yet to notice that little fact.

He took his seat at the table once more, only to eat the beans and promptly spit them into the sink. The girl looked at the mess with a sour face. A sour face at the age of what? Eight? Nine?

"Beans are evil. Bad, bad beans." The Doctor scolded. Next, the food was quite simple. Bread and butter. The girl handed it to him.

"Bread and butter, now you're talking." The Doctor grinned. The next thing the girls knew, he'd opened the back door and thrown it out amongst the cats. "And stay out!" He exclaimed, slamming the door behind him. The girl looked in the fridge as the Doctor paced and Marianne thought.

"We've got some carrots." The girl said finally.

"Carrots? Are you insane? No, wait, hang on. I know what I need. I need... I need.. I need..." He looked through the fridge and cupboards, until he'd found what he was looking for. "Fish fingers and custard." He grinned, taking out both items. Marianne shuddered at the thought.

While the Doctor ate his disgusting fish and custard, the girls both sat opposite on the table, eating from a large tub of vanilla icecream.

When the Doctor had finished, he drank the remaining custard from the bowl, leaving a mustache.

"Dear." Marianne said, gesturing to her own mouth. He nodded and wiped his mouth with his hand. Marianne shook her head.

"Funny." The girl giggled.

"Am I? Funny? Funny's good. What's your name?" He asked, delighted.

"Amelia Pond." Amelia replied.

"Ah, that's a brilliant name. Amelia Pond, like a name in a fairy tale." Marianne grinned.

"Are we in Scotland, Amelia?" The Doctor then asked. Amelia looked forlorn at the mention of Scotland.

"No. We had to move to England. It's rubbish." Amelia replied.

"So what about your mum and dad then? Are they upstairs? Thought we'd have woken them up by now." Marianne said, looking for any tell-tale signs of parents.

"I don't have a mum and dad. Just an aunt." Amelia replied.

"We don't even have any aunts." The Doctor replied lightly.

"You're lucky." Amelia stated, with raised eyebrows.

"I know." Marianne grinned. "So, your aunt. Where is she?" She asked, and the Doctor smiled fondly at her worriedness.

"She's out." Amelia shrugged. Marianne was obviously shocked.

"And she left you all alone?" She demanded.

"I'm not scared." Amelia said bravely.

"'Course you're not. You're not scared of anything! Box falls out of the sky, woman and man fall out of said box, man eats fish custard, and look at you, just sitting there. So you know what I think?" The Doctor asked.

What?" Amelia asked in return.

"Must be a hell of a scary crack in your wall." The Doctor replied seriously.

The Doctor and Marianne were kneeling down on Amelia's small bed, examining the crack in the wall.

"You've had some cowboys in here. Not actual cowboys, though that can happen." The Doctor told Amelia. Amelia herself was stood watching them in the doorway, an apple in her hand.

"I used to hate apples, so my mum put faces in them." She said, handing Marianne an apple with a smiley face carved into it. Marianne smiled.

"She sounds good, your mum." She replied. "I'll keep it for later." She winked, and went back to examining the wall. "This wall is solid and the crack doesn't go all the way through it. So here's a thing- where's the draught coming from?" Marianne asked.

"Point well made." The Doctor said, running his sonic down the crack. "Wibbly-wobbly, timey-wimey. You know what the crack is?" He asked Amelia.

"What?" Amelia asked.

"It's a crack." The Doctor said, running his finger along it. "I'll tell you something funny. If you knocked this wall down, the crack would stay put, 'cos the crack isn't in the wall." He explained.

"Where is it, then?" Amelia asked, surprised.

"Everywhere. In everything." Marianne explained. "It's a split in the skin of the world. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched, pressed together... Right here in the wall of your bedroom."

The Doctor held his ear against the wall. "Sometimes, you can hear..." He trailed.

"A voice? Yes." Amelia said. The Doctor heard an echoing voice. He grabbed a glass, poured out the remaining water and pressed it against the wall, listening to the voice through the glass.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped." The voice said in a booming tone, something which even Marianne heard, and she'd moved away from the wall.

"Prisoner Zero?" She frowned.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped. That's what I heard. What does it mean?" Amelia asked..

"It means that, on the outer side of this wall, there's a prison and they've lost a prisoner. Do you know what that means?" Marianne asked.

"You need a better wall." She claimed. The Doctor began to move her desk out of the way.

"The only way to close the breach is to open it all the way. The forces will invert and snap itself shut. Or.." The Doctor trailed half-heartedly.

"What?" Amelia asked.

"You know when grown ups tell you everything's going to be fine and you think they're probably lying to make you feel better?" The Doctor asked. Amelia nodded.

"Everything's going to be fine." Marianne said in a hollow voice. The Doctor held his hand out and Amelia took it. With his other hand, the Doctor used the sonic on the crack. On the other side of Amelia, Marianne stood, holding her other hand and watching. Amelia peered around them both as a bright light shone through the crack as it widened. In the dim light, they could see what looked like large cells in a prison.

"Prisoner Zero has escaped." The voice said again. The Doctor took a step closer to the crack. "Prisoner Zero has escaped."

"Hello?" The Doctor called. A gigantic, blue eye peered at them all through the crack.

"What's that?" Amelia demanded. A small ball of light shot from the crack, struck the Doctor and he fell against the bed. The crack sealed.

"There. You see, told you it would close. Good as new." The Doctor said.

"What was that thing? Was that Prisoner Zero?" Amelia asked.

"No." Marianne shook her head. "I think that was Prisoner Zero's guard." She said.

"Whatever it was, it's sent me a message. Psychic paper, takes a lovely little message. 'Prisoner Zero has escaped.' But why tell us? Unless..." He stood up.

"Unless what?" Amelia asked.

"Unless Prisoner Zero escaped through here." The Doctor said, and Marianne nodded.

"But he couldn't have. We'd know." She reasoned. They both looked at each other before running from the room. They stood in the hall way and they both looked around, the Doctor looking frustrated.

"It's difficult. Brand new me, nothing works yet. But there's something we're missing." The Doctor said, "In the corner... Of our eyes." He turned to face Amelia's bedroom door before they heard the echoing of machinery and the sound of the cloister bell.

"No!" The Doctor exclaimed, both he and Mari running out of the house with little Amelia following.

"We've got to get back in there! The engines are phasing, it's going to burn!" Marianne exclaimed.

"But... It's just a box! How can a box have engines?" Amelia asked, confused and feeling tired.

"It's not a box. It's a time machine." The Doctor said as he freed the grappling hooks and gathered both ropes.

"What, a real one? You've got a real life time machine?" Amelia breathed, in awe.

"Not for much longer if we can't get her stabilised. Five minute jump into the future should sort her out." Marianne said, as the Doctor looped the ropes through the door handle.

"Can I come?" Amelia asked hopefully.

"Not safe in here, not yet. Five minutes. Give us five minutes, we'll be right back." The Doctor promised, hopping onto the edge of the box and holding his hand out to help Marianne do the same.

"People always say that." Amelia said quietly. The Doctor jumped down from the box and looked at her.

"Are we people? Do we even look like people? Trust me, I'm the Doctor." The Doctor promised. Amelia smiled at the Doctor and then Marianne. The Doctor climbed back onto the TARDIS. He held one rope, Mari the other. They both watched Amelia before they suddenly jumped into the box.

"Geronimo!" The Doctor yelled. The TARDIS doors slammed shut and the box dematerialised. Amelia watched with wide eyes, before running back into her room, grabbing a suitcase from under her bed and filling it with things she might need. When she'd finished, she headed back downstairs, and into the back garden. She ran to the spot where the TARDIS had been before setting her suitcase down and sitting on it, her chin in her hands.

The TARDIS materialised in Amelia's back garden. The door opened and both the Doctor and Marianne emerged, running towards the house.

"Amelia! Amelia! We worked out what it was. I know what we were missing! You've got to get out of there!" The Doctor exclaimed, using his sonic screwdriver on the door lock. It opened, and they rushed into the seemingly empty house.

"Amelia?" Mari called. "Amelia, are you all right?" She asked, as the pair ran upstars. "Are you there?" They both walked with purpose to the door that they hadn't even seen before, a door that was in the corner of their eyes, but they couldn't seem to find. The Doctor tried to open it with his sonic.

"Prisoner Zero is here. Prisoner Zero is here!" The Doctor yelled to Amelia, wherever she was. "Do you understand me? Prisoner Zero is..." He turned around to be hit around the head quite hard with a cricket bat. Marianne's mouth flew open and she looked at the police woman who did it with wide eyes. The girl consequently hit her on the head too. The police woman looked down at the unconscious couple with horror.

The Doctor awoke due to the sound of Marianne moving, and the sound of clanking metal. His eyes fluttered open and he found Marianne trying to snap the handcuffs that had chained her to a radiator. He looked up to find a police woman wearing a very short skirt talking into her radio.

"White male, white female, both in their mid-20's, breaking and entering. Send me some back up, I've got them restrained." She said in a posh English accent. "Oi! You! Stay still!" She shouted at Marianne. The Doctor groaned, realising they'd both been chained to the radiator.

"Cricket bat. I'm getting cricket bat." The Doctor groaned.

"You were breaking and entering." The woman retorted. The Doctor tried to stand, but was stopped, due to his obvious handcuff situation.

"Well, that's much better. Brand new me, whack on the head. Just what it needed." The Doctor told Mari, who frowned, clearly angry.

"Do you want to shut up now? I've got back up on the way!" The woman exclaimed.

"Hang on, no- you're a police woman." The Doctor said.

"And you're breaking and entering. You see how this works?" The officer asked.

"But what are you doing here? Where the hell is Amelia?" Marianne demanded.

"Amelia Pond?" The officer asked.

"Yep. Little Scottish girl. Where is she? We promised hr five minutes but the engines were phasing. I suppose we must have gone a bit too far. Has something happened to her?" The Doctor asked, worried.

"Amelia Pond hasn't lived here in a long time." The officer replied.

"How long?" Marianne asked.

"Six months." The officer replied.

"No, no, no! We can't be six months late! We said five minutes." The Doctor said miserably. The officer walked away, reaching for her radio,

"What happened to her?" Marianne called. "What happened to Amelia Pond?"

"Sarge, it's me again. Hurry it up, they know something about Amelia Pond." The officer said. Marianne looked down, worried as the Doctor looked past the officer and to the door that he'd been trying to open.

"I need to speak to whoever lives in this house now." The Doctor insisted.

"I live here." The officer said.

"But you're the police." Marianne replied.

"Yes, and this is where I live. Got a problem with that?" She demanded.

"How many rooms?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm sorry, what?" The officer asked, frowning.

"On this floor. How many rooms are on this floor? Count them for me now." The Doctor instructed, and the officer looked confused.

"Why?" She demanded.

"Because it will change your life." Mari promised sincerely.

"Five." She said, sure. "One, two, three, four, five." She said, pointing at each door as she did so.

"Six." The Doctor corrected. The officer pulled a face.

"Six?" She asked with raised eyebrows.

"Look." Marianne told her. "Look exactly where you don't want to look. Where you never want to look, the corner of your eye. Look behind you." She instructed. The policewoman did just that, and slowly turned until she was facing the odd door.

"That's... That is not possible. How's that possible?" She breathed.

"There's a perception filter around the door. Sensed it last time we were here. Should've seen it" The Doctor seemed to be almost telling himself off.

"But that's a whole room." The officer said, her voice growing squeaky. "That's a whole room I've never noticed."

"The filter stops you. Something came a while ago to hide. It's still hiding. You need to uncuff us now!" The Doctor yelled, but the officer ignored him and instead began to stalk to the room like a predator.

"I don't have the key. I lost it." She said quietly, almost absenty, her attention being taken entirely by the whole room that she'd never seen but sensed.

"How can you have lost it?!" Marianne yelled. "Just... Just stay away from that door!" The officer didn't listen and continued walking.

"Do not touch that door!" The Doctor shouted. "Listen to us! Do not open that..." She turned the door handle, "Why does no one ever listen to me?! Do I just have a face that nobody listens to?" He demanded.

"Drama Queen." Marianne muttered, so faintly that the Doctor didn't even hear her. Or did he?

"Again?" He asked. He began to frisk his pockets frantically. "My screwdriver, where is it? Silver thing, blue at the end. Where did it go?" The Doctor shouted to the officer.

The officer herself had walked into the room, which was dusty and smelt of charity shops. There were dusty old soaked boxes on the floor, with moth eaten curtains which were thick and heavy, and the walls had a lot of water marks. Light shone through the window in patches, and beams, some of it stronger than others. In the middle of the room was a table, an oak table with scratches all over the paintwork.

"There's nothing here." She called back.

"Whatever's there stopped you seeing the whole room. What makes you think you could see it"?" The Doctor called. "Now please. just get out!"

"Silver thing, blue at the end?" The policewoman asked as her eyes skimmed over the items on the table.

"My screwdriver, yeah." The Doctor called back, wary.

"It's here." She said, and she picked it up. It was covered in goo, and she frowned in disgust.

"Must have rolled under the door." Marianne reasoned.

"Yeah. Must have." She called back. "And then it must have jumped on the table..." She breathed.

"Get out of there!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Get out! Get out of there!" He was stretching against his hand cuffs, but Marianne was simply staring at the door, willing the girl to walk out again.

The officer backed away towards the window, screwdriver in hand. Behind her, there was an alien looming down over her shoulder. It looked almost like an eel, and was slimy and had incredibly thin and sharp teeth.

"What is it? What are you doing?" The Doctor demanded.

"There's nothing here, but..." The woman breathed, feeling that there was something behind her.

"Corner of your eye." Marianne reminded her.

"What is it?" The girl demanded, her voice laced with deep fear.

"Don't try to see it. If it knows you've seen it, it will kill you. Don't look at it." The Doctor called. "Do not... Look."

She at once turned around and with wide eyes she stared right into the face of the creature. She screamed.

"Get out!" Marianne shrieked. The policewoman sprinted from the room and joined back with the Doctor and Mari.

"Give me that!" The Doctor exclaimed frantically, spying the screwdriver in her hand. She gave it to him. He pointed it at the lock of the door before making it click shut and locked. He then tried to unlock his handcuffs but it wouldn't work.

"What's the bad alien done to you?" He cooed, as if talking to a baby.

"Will that door hold it?" The officer asked, completely ignoring his baby talk.

"Oh, yeah, yeah, course! It's an inter-dimensional multi-form from outer space. They're all terrified of wood." Mari snapped, sarcastically. The officer's eyes widened, as if she wasn't expecting that. A bright light flashed around the edges of the door, and the woman grew edgier.

"What's that? What's it doing?" She asked, fidgeting from foot to foot.

"I don't know, getting dressed?" The Doctor asked, wiping his screwdriver with his finger. "Run. Just go. Your back up's coming. We'll be fine." He muttered.

"There is no back up." The woman said.

"I heard you on the radio, you called for back up." Marianne stated, looking up.

"I was pretending. This is a pretend radio." The woman said, holding it up from her uniform.

"'You're a policewoman." The Doctor frowned.

"I'm a kissogram!" She exclaimed, seemingly annoyed, taking off her hat and letting her ginger hair tumble down into waves. At that moment, the door fell into the hallway to show a man in blue workers overalls holding the chained lead to a large Rottweiler. He walked forwards into the hall.

"But it's just..." The woman said, watching with suspicion.

"No, it isn't. Look at the faces." The Doctor muttered. The man growled while the dog remained impassive.

"What? I'm sorry- what?" The woman asked.

"It's all one creature. One creature disguised as two." Marianne explained.

"Clever old multiform." The Doctor nodded. "A bit of a rush job, though. Got the voice a bit muddled, did you? Mind you, where did you get the pattern from? You'd need a psychic link, a live feed. How did you fix that?" The Doctor asked. The multiform began to advance on the Doctor and Marianne, and opened his mouth to show large thin teeth.

"Stay, boy!" The Doctor exclaimed as the woman backed up. The creature halted. "Us three, we're safe. Want to know why? She sent for back up." The Doctor lied.

"I didn't send for back up!" The woman exclaimed through gritted teeth.

"That was just a clever lie to save our lives." Marianne hissed. The woman's eyed widened and she looked sheepish.

"OK, yeah. No back up! And that's why we're safe. Alone, we're not a threat to you. If we had back up, then you'd have to kill us!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Attention, Prisoner Zero. The human residence is surrounded." A voice called, and Marianne closed her eyes with annoyance.

"What's that?" The woman whispered.

"That would be back up." Marianne nodded.

"Ok, one more time. We do have back up, and that's definitely why we're safe." The Doctor insisted.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated." The voice called out again. Typical, Marianne thought.

"Well, safe apart from, you know, incineration." The Doctor nodded. The creature turned into another room off the hall. As the voice continued to report it's warning, the Doctor banged the screwdriver on the wall to try and get it to start working again.

"Work, work, work. C'mon." The Doctor urged. As soon as he said that, it began to work. He undid his handcuffs before standing up and immediately going to undo Marianne's. That was when the screwdriver decided to stop working.

"Come on!" The woman exclaimed.

"I'm not going to leave her!" The Doctor yelled angrily. He then got Marianne's handcuffs and snapped the lock around the wrist, pulling them off her and leaving them broken on the radiator. He then helped her up and they all began to sprint outside.

"Strong." Marianne complimented, smirking at the Doctor.

"Desperate times and all that, dear." He told her, straight faced as they ran down the stairs.

"Kissogram?" Marianne asked as they ran outside.

"Yes!" The woman exclaimed.

"Why'd you pretend to be a police woman?" The Doctor asked.

"You broke into my house! It was this or a French maid!" The woman exclaimed, following them both. "What's going on? Tell me!" She demanded.

"An alien convict is hiding in your spare room disguised as a man and his dog, and some other aliens are about to incinerate your house. Any questions?" The Doctor asked impatiently.

"Yes." She snapped.

"Me too." The Doctor nodded, trying to unlock the door to the TARDIS, but the key wasn't working.

"Ah, don't do that now! It's still rebuilding, not letting us in." Marianne snarled.

"Come on." The girl took the Doctor by the arm and tried to march him away. The Doctor resisted, however.

"No, wait, hang on, wait. The shed." He said, running to the garden shed. "I destroyed that shed last time we were here, smashed it to pieces." The Doctor realised.

"So there's a new one. Let's go." The woman said.

"No, he's got a point. But the new one got old. It's ten years old at least." The Doctor sniffed the wood and then ran his finger along it before tasting it.

"12 years." He said. "We're not six months late, we're 12 years late." He said, walking towards the woman dangerously, with Marianne flanking him.

"He's coming." The woman insisted.

"You said six months. Why'd you say six months?" Marianne demanded.

"We've got to go." The woman said desperately.

"No, no. This matters. Why did you say six months?" She asked again.

"Why did you say five minutes?" The woman yelled in a Scottish accent, furious and hurt. Marianne blanched. It was Amelia.

"What?" The Doctor asked.

"Come on." Amelia said.

"What?" The Doctor asked again.

"Come on!" Amelia yelled, grabbing both the Doctor and Marianne's arms and pulling them with her. They ran out of the garden and past the multiform who was standing, barking at the door.

The Doctor and Mari both stopped, stood next to each other and faced her.

"You'e Amelia." Marianne stated.

"You're late." Amelia said harshly, continuing to walk.

"Amelia Pond, you're the little girl." The Doctor said.

"I'm Amelia, and you're late." Amelia said angrily, marching on.

"What happened?" The Doctor asked.

"12 years." Amelia snapped.

"You hit us with a cricket bat." Marianne said.

"12 years." Amelia reasoned.

"A cricket bat." Marianne whined.

"12 years and 4 psychiatrists." Amelia snapped, stopping and finally facing them.

"Four?" The Doctor asked.

"I kept biting them." Amelia said.

"Biting them? Why would you even want to do that?" Marianne frowned.

"They said you weren't real." Amelia said in a quiet voice.


	6. Chapter 6

The Time Lord's both stared at Amelia for a few seconds after her shock revelation, until they heard the sound of Prisoner Zero's guard shouting a warning from the speakers of an ice cream van.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

"No, come on... What? We're being staked out by an ice cream van?" Amelia asked, sighing and looking frustrated. The Doctor headed for the van, followed by the two girls.

"What's that? Why are you playing that?" The Doctor demanded.

"It's supposed to be Claire de Lune." The vendor shrugged, trying to fix the problem. The Doctor picked up the speaker and listened.

"Prisoner Zero will vacate the human residence or the human residence will be incinerated."

Marianne looked around to find a jogger running past with her iPod. She was hearing it too, as was a man on his mobile.

"What's happening?" Amelia asked. The Doctor leaped over a white fence into a front garden, stopping to help Marianne do the same. Amelia ran round to the front instead.

They rushed into the house to find an old woman turning the channel on her large TV screen. Every channel showed the same image, a large eye.

The Doctor and Marianne both looked at it, as Amelia followed behind.

"Hello! Sorry to burst in, we're doing a special on television faults in this area." Marianne said, before remembering about Amelia's police uniform. "Also, crimes. Let's have a look." She said, grabbing the remote from the lady.

"I was just about to phone. It's on every channel." The woman said before she spotted Amelia. "Hello, Amy, dear." She said warmly. "Are you a policewoman now?" She asked.

"Well, sometimes." Amelia said sheepishly.

"I thought you were a nurse." The woman frowned.

"I can be a nurse." Amelia nodded quietly.

"Or, actually, a nun." The woman corrected.

"I dabble." Amelia forced a laugh as she shrugged.

"Amy, who are your friends?" The woman asked, eyeing the Doctor and Marianne up.

"Who's Amy? You were Amelia." The Doctor said.

"Yeah, now I'm Amy." Amy said, again, sheepishly.

"Amelia Pond- that was a great name." Marianne said, turning from the TV to stare at the girl.

"Bit fairy tale." Amy smiled fondly, thinking of the memory. She soon turned her smile off, however, when she remembered what they did.

"I know you two, don't I? I've seen you somewhere before." The old woman told them both.

"Not us. Brand new face... Plus we remember people." The Doctor said, pointing first at himself and then at Mari too. "And what sort of job's a kissogram?" He demanded.

"I go to parties and I kiss people." Amy said. She cleared her throat nervously. "With outfits. It's a laugh." She insisted, hiding an ulterior motive.

"You were a little girl five minutes ago." Marianne frowned, thinking of the low self esteem Amy must have.

"You're worse than my aunt." Amy stated, glaring at Marianne.

"Oh, I'm worse than everybody's aunt. And he's worse than me." Mari glowered back.

"And that is not how we're introducing ourselves." The Doctor said over her, turning back to the old lady. He then picked up his sonic screwdriver and turned it onto a radio, where they heard the same message. It also broadcast in French and German before the Doctor switched it off.

"So, it's everywhere, in every language." The Doctor said. "They're broadcasting it to the whole world." He turned and opened the window while looking up

"What's up there? What are you looking for?" Amy demanded.

"Ok. Planet this size, two poles, your basic molten core... They're going to need a 40% fission blast." Marianne said as she also looked outside. Suddenly, a young man entered and the Doctor walked up to him.

"But they'll have to power up first, won't they? So assuming a medium sized starship, that's twenty minutes." He said, on his tip toes to look at this tall man for some reason. "What do you think? Twenty minutes? Yeah, twenty minutes. We've got twenty minutes." The Doctor nodded.

"Twenty minutes to what?" Amy asked.

"Are you the Doctor? And you're Marianne?" The tall man asked.

"They are, aren't they? He's the Doctor! The Raggedy Doctor. And she's Marianne. His Raggedy Wife. All those cartoons you did when you were little. The Raggedy People, that's them." The old woman grinned, and Amy blushed and her eyes grew wide.

"I know." She said softly.

"Cartoons?" Marianne asked, amused. Amy glared at her harder.

"Gran, it's them! It's really them!" The man exclaimed to his grandmother.

"Jeff, shut up!" Amy hissed. "Twenty minutes to what?" She turned to the Time Lord's.

"The human residence. They're not talking about your house, they're talking about the planet. Somewhere up there, there's a spaceship and it's going to incinerate the planet. Twenty minutes to the end of the world." The Doctor explained/

As the trio waked quickly down the street, the Doctor and Mari decided to clue up on what they were dealing with.

"What is this place? Where are we?" The Doctor asked.

"Leadworth." Amy replied.

"Where's the rest of it'?" Marianne frowned, looking at the stone walls and the flower beds and the cottages and the post office with disdain.

"This is it." Amy frowned.

"Is there an airport?" The Doctor asked.

"No." Amy sighed.

"A nuclear power station?" He then asked.

"No." Amy retorted.

"Even a little one?" The Doctor said, in a higher pitch.

"No." Amy insisted.

"Nearest city?" Marianne cut in, before the Doctor began crying at the lack of power stations.

"Gloucester, half an hour by car." Amy replied.

"We don't have half an hour. Do you have a car?" Marianne asked.

"No." Amy said.

"Well, that's just kick in your teeth fantastic!" Marianne exclaimed sarcastically. "Twenty minutes to save the world and we've got a post office. And it's shut! And what the hell is that?" She asked, storming over to a pond.

"It's a duck pond." Amy said warily.

"Why aren't there any ducks?" The Doctor demanded.

"I don't know. There's never any ducks." Amy shrugged, confused.

"Then how do you know it's a duck pond?" Marianne questioned.

"It just is. Is it important, the duck pond?" Amy asked.

"I don't know." The Doctor groaned. "Why would I know?" He asked as he sat on the ground, clutching his chest as another wave of the regeneration kicked in. Marianne sat with him and held his hand. Amy looked at their hands with a brooding look on her face. The sky suddenly darkened and they all looked up.

"What's happening? Why's it going dark?" Amy asked. The sun appeared grey and was flickering.

"So what's wrong with the sun?" Amy asked.

"Nothing. You're looking at it through a force field. They've sealed off your upper atmosphere, now they're getting ready to boil the planet." Marianne explained. The Doctor stood back up, as did Marianne.

"Oh, and here they come, the human race. The end comes, as it was always going to - down a video phone" The Doctor exclaimed as they saw tons of villagers taking photo's of the sun.

"This isn't real, is it? This is some kind of big wind up." Amy stated

"You're as bad as Rose. Why would I wind you up?" The Doctor asked, frowning.

"You told me you had a time machine." Amy said, with wide eyes and raised eyebrows.

"And you believed us." Marianne reminded her.

"The I grew up." Amy snapped bitterly.

"Oh, you never want to do that." The Doctor groaned. "No, hang on, shut up, wait! I missed it. I saw it and I missed it. What did I see? I saw... What did I see?" The Doctor asked. He looked around, retracing everything he'd seen. Marianne shook her head at Amy when she opened her mouth to ask what he was doing. Amy closed her mouth again.

The Doctor seemed to focus on a nurse, a male nurse, wearing blue scrubs.

"Twenty minutes. I can do it. Twenty minutes, the planet burns. Run to your loved ones and say goodbye or stay and help me." The Doctor told her.

"No." Amy said. Marianne narrowed her eyes.

"I'm sorry?" The Doctor asked.

"No!" Amy exclaimed, grabbing the Doctor by his raggedy tie and dragging him to a car. He pushed him against the car and the driver got out, looking annoyed. She slammed his tie into the door and locked the car with the key she'd plucked from the driver's hand.

"Are you out of your mind?!" Marianne yelled.

"Who are you?" Amy demanded.

"You know who we are!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"No, really, who are you?" Amy asked.

"Look at the sky! End of the world, twenty minutes." Marianne reminded her with a high pitched voice.

"Better talk quickly then!" Amy spat.

"Amy, I am going to need my car back." The driver said quietly.

"Yes, in a bit. Now go and have coffee." Amy shook her head at the driver.

"Right. Yes." He said, before leaving.

"Catch." Marianne said, plucking an apple from the Doctor's pocket and throwing it at Amy. Amy looked to find it had a smiley face carved into it, as fresh as when Amy gave it to her.

"I'm the Doctor, she;'s Marianne, and we're time travellers. Everything we told you 12 years ago is true. We're real. What's happening in the sky is real, and if you don't let me go now, everything you've ever known is over." The Doctor said slowly, and Amy seemed confused.

"I don't believe you." She insisted, shaking her head, trying to fight that childish urge to believe.

"Just twenty minutes. Just believe us for twenty minutes. Look at it. Fresh as the minute you gave it to me. And you know it's the same one." Marianne insisted. "Amelia, believe for twenty minutes." Marianne asked.

"What do we do?" Amy asked as she unlocked the car.

"Stop that nurse!" The Doctor exclaimed, running onto the green and snatching the nurse's phone. "The sun's going out, and you're photographing a man and a dog. Why?" The Doctor asked.

"Amy?" The nurse then asked, confused.

"Hi!" Amy exclaimed brightly. "Oh, this is Rory. He's a... Friend." Amy said.

"Boyfriend." Rory corrected, frowning.

"Kind of boyfriend." Amy nodded.

"Amy!" Rory exclaimed, annoyed.

"Man and dog, why?" The Doctor reminded him.

"Oh my God. It's them." Rory said, his mouth opening in shock.

"Just answer his question, please." Amy muttered, not wanting Rory to bring it up.

"It's them though. The Doctor. The Raggedy Doctor. And his Raggedy wife, Raggedy Marianne." Rory gasped.

"Yeah, they came back." Amy smiled.

"But they were a story. They were a game." Rory insisted.

"Man and dog! Why? Tell me!" Marianne exclaimed, grabbing Rory's shirt and staring at him.

"Sorry. Because he can't be there. Because he's..." Rory trailed, looking slightly scared at Marianne's wide eyes.

"In a hospital, in a coma." The Doctor and Rory both said together.

"Yeah." Rory said.

"Knew it. Multi-form, you see?" Marianne said, letting go of his shirt and stepping back. "Disguise itself as anything, but it needs a live feed, a psychic link with a living but dormant mind." Mari smiled sweetly.

The multi-form snapped and snarled at them. The Doctor walked closer.

"Prisoner Zero." The Doctor said calmly.

"What, there's a Prisoner Zero?" Rory asked.

"Yes." Amy hissed. There was an electrical buzzing and they looked up to see a spaceship flying over the green. The large eye began to peer down at them.

"See, that ship up there is scanning this area for non-terrestrial technology. And nothing says non-terrestrial like a sonic screwdriver." The Doctor said, holding his sonic up into the sky and turning it on. There was suddenly chaos as streetlights shattered, car alarms blared and sirens wailed.

"I think someone's going to notice, don't you?" He asked, staring at his handiwork.

Prisoner Zero barked at them. The Doctor lowered the screwdriver and aimed it at a phone box, which exploded. The screwdriver itself then fizzled and sparked, causing the Doctor to drop it.

"No, no, no, don't do that!" The Doctor yelled, frustrated. The ship began to head away.

"Look it's going." Rory shrugged.

"No, come back! He's here! Come back! Prisoner Zero is here! Come back, he's here!" The Doctor yelled.

Prisoner Zero suddenly turned into a sort of mist and escaped down the drain.

"Doctor! The drain, it just sort of melted and went down the drain." Amy frowned.

"Well, of course it did." Marianne frowned.

"What do we do now?" Amy asked.

"It's hiding in human form. We need to drive into the open. No TARDIS, no screwdriver, seventeen minutes. Come on, think!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"So that thing, that hid in my house for 12 years?" Amy asked.

"Multi-forms can live for millennia. 12 years is a pit stop." Marianne explained.

"So how come you show up again on the same day that lot do? The same minute?" Amy demanded.

"They're looking for him, but followed us. They saw us through the crack, got a fix. They're only late cos we are." The Doctor then explained.

"What's he on about?" Rory asked.

"Now, sport, give me your phone." The Doctor said.

"How can they be real? They were never real." Rory insisted.

"Phone now, give me!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"They were just a game. We were kids. You made me dress up as him and you dressed up as her." Rory reminded her. Marianne smirked and grinned at Amy, who blushed.

"These are all coma patients?" The Doctor asked, looking at photo's.

"Yeah." Rory nodded.

"No, they're all the multi-form. Eight coma's, eight disguises for Prisoner Zero." The Doctor said.

"He had a dog though. There's a dog in a coma?" Amy asked.

"The coma patient dreams he's walking ad dog, Prisoner Zero gets a dog." Marianne shrugged.

"Laptop!" The Doctor suddenly yelled. "Your friend, what was his name? Not him, the good looking one." The Doctor said, looking at Rory and shaking his head.

"Thanks." Rory said sarcastically.

"Jeff." Amy replied.

"Oh, thanks." Rory said again.

"He had a laptop in his bag, a laptop. Big bag, big laptop. I need Jeff's laptop. You two, get to the hospital, get everyone out, clear the whole floor. Phone me when you're done." The Doctor ordered, and he and Marianne ran off.

They both burst into Jeff's bedroom where Jeff was lying on his bed and using the laptop.

"Hello. Laptop, give me!" Marianne exclaimed, taking it from him.

"No, no, no, wait hang on!" Jeff exclaimed, trying to keep a hold of it.

"It's fine, give it here." Marianne said, taking the laptop and sitting at the bottom of the bed. When she looked at the screen, she frowned. "Oh dear, Jeff, get a girlfriend." She said, quickly quitting the screen and staring at Jeff, who blushed.

"I have one, and it's the best." The Doctor grinned like an overexcited child. The bedroom door opened and Jeff's Gran walked in.

"Gran." Jeff said, still embarrassed.

"What are you doing?" Gran demanded.

"The sun's gone wibbly, so right now, somewhere out there, there's going to be a big video conference call." Marianne explained, typing quickly on the laptop. "All the experts in the world panicking at once, and do you know who they need? Us." She grinned. "Ah, and here they all are, all the big boys. NASA, Jodrell Bank, Tokyo Space Centre, Patrick Moore."

"Ooh, I like Patrick Moore." Jeff's Gran grinned.

"I'll get you his number, but watch him, he's a devil." The Doctor said, leaning over Marianne's shoulders.

"You can't just hack into a call like that." Jeff insisted.

"Can't I?" Marianne asked, as she passed the laptop to the Doctor who thne held his psychic paper up to the camera.

"Who are you? This is a secure call. What are you doing?" An expert demanded angrily.

"Hello. I know, you should switch me off. But before you do, watch this." The Doctor said. "Fermat's Theorem, the proof, and I mean the real one, never seen before. Poor old Fermant, got killed in a duel before he could write it down. My fault, I slept in. Oh, and here's an oldie but a goodie, why electrons have mass. And a personal favourite of mine, faster than light travel with two diagrams and a joke. Look at your screens. Whoever I am, I'm a genius." The Doctor said, his psychic paper still held up.

"I came up with the joke!" Marianne exclaimed.

"And so is she." The Doctor amended, pointing to Mari with his spare hand. "Look at the sun. You need all the help you can get. Fella's, pay attention." The Doctor ordered.

"Sir, what are you doing?" An expert asked as the Doctor began quickly typing on Rory's mobile.

"I'm writing a computer virus. Very clever, super fast, and a tiny bit alive, but don't let on. Why am I writing it on a phone? Never mind, you'll find out. OK, I'm sending this to all your computers. Get everyone who works for you to send this everywhere. Email, text, Facebook, Bebo, Twitter, radar dis - whatever you've got. Any questions?" The Doctor asked.

"Who was your lady friend?" Patrick Moore asked, talking about Jeff's Gran.

"Patrick, behave!" Marianne scolded.

"What does this virus do?" An expert asked.

"It's a reset command, that's all. It resents counters. It gets in the wifi and resets every counter it can find. Clocks, calenders, anything with a chip will default at zero at exactly the same time. But, yeah, I could be lying, why should you trust me? We'll let our best man explain." There was silence. "Jeff, you're our best man." The Doctor said.

"Your what?" Jeff asked. The Doctor partly closed the laptop.

"Listen to me. In ten minutes, you're going to be a legend. In ten minutes, everyone on that screen is going to be offering you any job you want. But first, you have to be magnificent. You have to make them trust you and get them working. This is it, Jeff. Right here, right now. This is when you fly. Today's the day you save the world."

"Why me?" Jeff asked.

"It's your bedroom. Now go!" Marianne exclaimed. Jeff opened the laptop.

"OK guys, let's do this." Jeff said, and began typing.

"Oh, and delete your internet history." Marianne told him, and the Time Lord's both left.

They ran from Jeff's house and looked around, before the Doctor grabbed Mari's hand and they both took off running.

The Doctor was driving a fire engine for some bizarre reason when the mobile rang. Marianne answered.

"Doctor? We're at the hospital, but we can't get through. Oh!" Amy exclaimed over the phone.

"Look in the mirror." Marianne replied.

"What did he say?" Rory asked.

"_She_ said look in the mirror." Amy said, turning to see her reflection. "Haha! Uniform!" She exclaimed, putting her hair up. "Are you on your way? You're going to need a car." Amy told her

"Don't worry. We've commandeered a vehicle." Marianne explained, and the Doctor put the alarm on as they drove. Amy hung up. She rang back moments later.

"Are you in?" Marianne asked.

"Yep." Amy replied. Mari put the phone on speaker phone. "But so's Prisoner Zero." Amy said.

"You need to get out of there." The Doctor yelled.

Rory, in the hospital with Amy, turned around to look at the woman and two daughters who were to them.

"He was so angry. And that dog, the size of that dog, I swear it was rabid." Prisoner Zero, Amy thought as the little girl spoke with a woman's voice. "And he just went mad, attacking everyone. Where did he go, did you see? Has he gone? We hid in the ladies." The girl smiled.

"Oh, I'm getting it wrong again, aren't I?" Prisoner Zero asked, this time speaking through the mother. "I'm always doing that. So many mouths." She said, and opened her mouth to reveal sharp and thin teeth, as did the girls.

Amy and Rory both backed away, eyes wide as the multi-form stalked them.

"Oh, my God!" Rory exclaimed.

"Amy? Amy, what's happening?" The Doctor asked down the phone. Amy and Rory turned and ran down the corridor to one of the wards. They closed the doors and slid a broom through the handles.

"Amy, talk to us!" The Doctor exclaimed. The couple both backed away from the doors and moved into the ward.

"We're in the coma ward. But it's here, it's getting in." Amy said down the phone.

"Which window are you?" The Doctor asked.

"What, sorry?" Amy frowned.

"Which window?" He asked again. Amy looked.

"First floor on the left, fourth from the end." She said, eyebrows knitted in confusion. Prisoner Zero suddenly broke through the door.

"Oh dear, little Amelia Pond. I've watched you grow up. Twelve years, and you never even knew I was there. Little Amelia Pond, waiting for her magic Doctor and his wife to return, but not this time, Amelia." Prisoner Zero smirked, and opened her mouth.

Amy's mobile bleeped with a text message from the Doctor.

'Duck.' It said. Amy heard the wail of the siren of the fire engine and pushed Rory down just in time as the ladder from the fire engine smashed through the window. The Doctor and Marianne both climbed into the war and joined Amy and Rory.

"Right! Hello! Are we late? No, three minutes to go. So still time." The Doctor grinned.

"Time for what, Time Lords?" Prisoner Zero snarled.

"Take the disguise off. They'll find you in a heart beat. Nobody dies." Marianne said.

"The Atraxi will kill me this time. If I am to die, let there be fire." Prisoner Zero said.

"OK, you came to this world by opening a crack in space and time. Do it again. Just leave." The Doctor said.

"I did not open the crack." Prisoner Zero insisted.

"Well, somebody did." Marianne shrugged.

"The cracks in the skin of the universe- don't you know where they came from? You do't, do you? The Doctor in the TARDIS doesn't know. Doesn't know, doesn't know!" The daughter sang in a sing song voice. "The universe is cracked. The Pandorica will open. Silence will fall." The woman said in a normal voice.

Marianne frowned, but when everyone heard a ticking noise, she relaxed. The Doctor looked at the wall at the clock.

"And we're off! Look at that. Yeah, I know, just a clock, whatever. But do you know what's happening right now?" He asked. "In one little bedroom, our team is working. Jeff and the world. And do you know what they're doing? They're spreading the word all over the world, quantum fast. The word is out." The Doctor explained. "And do you know what the word is? The word is zero. Now, me, if I was up in the sky in a battleship, monitoring all Earth communications, I'd take that as a hint.. And if I had a whole battle fleet surrounding the planet, I'd be able to track a simple old computer virus to its source, in, what, under a minute?" The Doctor asked, taking his mobile from his pocket. "The source, by the way, is right here. Oh! And I think they found us!" He exclaimed as a bright light shone through the window.

"The Atraxi are limited. While I'm in this form, they'll still be unable to detect me. They've tracked a phone, not me." Prisoner Zero stated.

"Yeah, but this is the good bit." Marianne grinned, nodding. "Do you know what this phone is full of? Pictures of you. Like the Cure. Every form you've learned to take, right here. Oh, and being uploaded right now."

"And the final score is- No TARDIS, no screwdriver- two minutes to spare." The Doctor grinned, holding his arm out like he wanted a fist bump. "Who da man?" He asked. Everyone stared at him, and Marianne even looked somewhat disgusted. "Oh, I'm never saying that again. Fine." He said as he was greeted by silence.

"Then I shall take a new form." Prisoner Zero claimed.

"Oh, stop it, you know you can't. Takes months to form that kind of psychic link." Marianne scoffed.

"And I've had years." Prisoner Zero grinned, as her form glowed. Amy suddenly fell to the floor and the Time Lord's rushed over to her.

"No! Amy?" The Doctor demanded. He put his hand to Amy's face. "You've got to hold on, Amy! Don't sleep! You've got to stay awake, please." He begged.

"Doctor?" Rory asked, looking at Prisoner Zero. The Doctor and Marianne looked up to find the form that Prisoner Zero had taken.

"Well, that's rubbish. Who's that supposed to be?" The Doctor laughed.

"It's you." Marianne claimed.

"Me? Is that what I look like?" The Doctor asked.

"You don't know?" Rory asked, shocked.

"Busy day." The Doctor stood up. "Why me, though? You've linked with her. Why are you copying me?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm not. Poor Amy Pond. Still such a child inside. Dreaming of the magic Doctor s"he knows will never return to save her. What a disappointment you've been." The Doctor's form turned into a young Amelia Pond, small and sweet, like the first time they met her.

"No, she's dreaming about you because she can hear you." Marianne assured him. The Doctor nodded and ran back to Amy.

"Amy, don't just hear me, listen. Remember the room, the room in your house you couldn't see? Remember you went inside. We tried to stop you, but you did. You went into the room. You went inside. Amy... Dream about what you saw." The Doctor told her.

"No... No...No!" Prisoner Zero, in Amelia's form gasped, before glowing and transforming.

"Well done, Prisoner Zero. A perfect impersonation of yourself." Marianne smirked, looking at the blue eel like creature that Amy had seen before. It writhed under the lights it was caught under.

"Prisoner Zero is located. Prisoner Zero is restrained." The Atraxi said.

"Silence. Silence will fall." Prisoner Zero hissed before it disappeared. There was a whoosh of air as the ship left, and the Doctor ran to the window and dialled a number on the mobile.

"The sun, it's back to normal. Right? That's... That's good, yeah? That means it's over." Rory said, as Amy awoke. "Amy? Are you OK? Are you with us?" He asked.

"What happened?" Amy groaned.

"They did it. The Doctor and Marianne, they did it." Rory grinned.

"No, we didn't." Marianne said.

"What are you doing?" Rory asked as he saw them both now at the window.

"Tracking the signal back. Sorry in advance." The Doctor said.

"About what?" Rory asked.

"The bill." Marianne turned around, grinning sheepishly.

"Oi, I didn't say you could go! Article 57 of the Shadow Proclamation. This is a fully established, level 5 planet, and you were going to burn it. What? Did you think no one was watching? You lot, back here, now!" The Doctor exclaimed down the phone. He tossed the phone back to Rory. "OK, now I've done it." He smiled, leaving the ward with Marianne.

Amy followed.

"Did he just bring them back? Did he just save the world from aliens and then bring all the aliens back again?" Rory asked, catching up with her.

The Time Lord's strode down the corridor, determined. Amy and Rory rushed to keep up.

"Where are you going?" Amy called.

"The roof." The Doctor called back. "No, hang on." He said, entering a changing room. He began to sift through clothes, with Marianne leaning on the wall, watching. He threw away that clothes he didn't want.

"What's in there?" Amy asked.

"I'm saving the world- I need a decent shirt. To hell with the raggedy. Time to put on a show!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"You just summoned aliens back to Earth. Actual aliens." Rory said. The Doctor began to take off his old clothes. "Deadly aliens, aliens of death, and now you're taking your clothes off. Amy, he's taking his clothes off." Rory sighed, sounding like an exasperated parent.

"Turn your back if he embarrasses you." Marianne rolled her eyes.

"Are you stealing clothes now? Those clothes belong to people, you know." Rory said, turning his back. "Are you not going to turn your back?" Rory asked Amy.

"Nope." She smirked, cocking an eyebrow.

"Oh, I think so." Marianne nodded, turning Amy around gently, also with a cocked eyebrow.

The Doctor marched onto the roof in a long shirt, trousers with braces and a number of ties draped around his neck. He and Mari strode to the Atraxi ship.

"So this was a good idea, was it? They were leaving." Amy snapped.

"Leaving is good. Never coming back is better." Marianne explained.

"Come on, then! The Doctor will see you now." The Doctor said. An eye disconnected from the ship and scanned the Time Lord's.

"You are not of this world." The Atraxi claimed.

"No, but we've put a lot of work into it." The Doctor said, examining one of the ties. "I don't know? What do you think?" He asked, holding it up.

"Is this world important?" The Atraxi asked.

"Important?" Marianne demanded. "What's that mean, important? Six billion people live here, is that important? Here's a better question. Is this planet a threat to the Atraxi?" She asked dangerously. "Well come on, you're monitoring the whole planet. Is this world a threat?" She shouted as the Doctor tossed some of the ties aside.

The Atraxi began to show a hologram image of the Earth with scenes from history.

"No." It finally said.

"Are the peoples of this world guilty of any crime by the laws of the Atraxi?" Marianne asked.

"No."

"Ok. One more. Is this world protected? Because you're not the first lot to come here." The Doctor said, as a hologram showed the Cybermen, Daleks, Queen of the Racnoss, Ood, Sycorax, Sontaran, a Sea Devil, Reapers, The Hath and the Vashta Nerada in the spacesuit. "Oh, there have been so many! And what you've got to ask is, what happened to them?" The Doctor then asked, ans the projection went through every incarnation of the Doctor, which included Marianne by his side in his tenth incarnation.

"Hello. I'm the Doctor. She's my Bond. Basically. Run!" The Doctor exclaimed dangerously. The Atraxi ship departed and Amy laughed. The Doctor felt something in his pocket, as did Marianne.

They pulled out whatever was bothering them to find glowing TARDIS keys.

"Is that it? Is that them gone for good? Who were they?" Amy asked, turning around to find them both gone.

The Time Lord's had sprinted back to the TARDIS. They both stepped inside and glanced at the new interior. Instead of the usual coral beams and golden globes, it was bronze, with discs on the walls and a more retro affect to the console. There was a type writer and a monitor attached to the top of the console.

"Oh, you sexy thing! Look at you!" The Doctor exclaimed. Marianne smirked. "And I wasn't just talking about the TARDIS." The Doctor smirked, and Marianne laughed before he kissed her, arms around her waist, taking her full weight as he crushed his lips to hers.

Amy awoke as she heard the engines of the TARDIS. She jumped from her bed and ran to the window where she saw the TARDIS standing in her back garden. She grinned and left the house in her bath robe and slippers. The Doctor and Marianne were both standing outside the TARDIS.

"Sorry about running off earlier. Brand new TARDIS, bit exciting. Just had a quick hop to the moon and back. She's ready for the big stuff now." The Doctor assured the girl.

"It's you. You came back." Amy smiled.

"Course we came back. We always come back. Something wrong with that, Amelia?" Marianne asked, smirking.

"And you kept the clothes." Amy pointed to the Doctor.

"Well, I just saved the world, the whole planet, for about the millionth time, no charge. Yeah, shoot me! I kept the clothes!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Including the bow tie." Amy frowned.

"Mari chose it for me. And it's cool. Bow ties are cool." He said, grinning with raised eyebrows.

"Are you from another planet?" Amy asked

"Yeah." Marianne told her.

"Ok..." Amy trailed.

"So what do you think?" The Doctor asked.

"Of what?" Amy asked.

"Other planets. Want to check some out?" The Doctor then asked, rolling his eyes.

"What does that mean?" Amy frowned.

"It means... Well... It means, come with us." Marianne fumbled for the right words.

"Where?" Amy asked.

"Wherever you like." Marianne grinned.

"All that stuff, the hospital, the spaceships, Prisoner Zero.." Amy trailed.

"Oh, don't worry. That's just the beginning. There's loads more." The Doctor assured her.

"Yeah, but those things, amazing things, all that stuff... That was two years ago!" She yelled angrily.

Marianne's mouth opened in shock. "Oh." She said.

"Yeah." Amy nodded.

"So that's..." The Doctor trailed.

"14 years!" Amy exclaimed.

"14 years since fish custard. Amelia Pond, the girl who waited, you've waited long enough." Marianne assured her.

"When I was a kid, you said there was a swimming pool and a library, and the swimming pool was in the library." Amy said cautiously.

"Yeah. Not sure where it's got to now. So... Coming?" The Doctor asked.

"No!" Amy exclaimed.

"You wanted to come 14 years ago." Marianne reminded her.

"I grew up." Amy snapped.

"Don't worry. We'll soon fix that." The Doctor assured her. The Doctor snapped his fingers and the TARDIS doors opened, and Amy's eyes widened as she took in the orange glow. Overwhelmed, she walked inside.

"I'm in my nightie." She said in a quiet voice.

"Oh, don't worry. Plenty of clothes in the wardrobe. And possibly a swimming pool." Marianne smiled, walking inside too and watching her.

"So... All of time and space, everything that ever happened and ever will. Where do you want to start?" The Doctor asked.

"You are so sure I'm coming." Amy smirked.

"Yeah, we are." Marianne grinned.

"Why?" Amy frowned.

"Because you're the Scottish girl in an English village, and we know how that feels." The Doctor explained.

"Oh, do you?" Amy demanded.

"All these years of living here most of your life... And you've still got that accent. Yeah, you're coming." Marianne laughed, as did the Doctor. It was a carefree laugh, happy and relaxed. Amy liked it.

"Can you get me back in time for tomorrow morning?" Amy asked cautiously.

"It's a time machine, we can get you back five minutes ago. Why, what's tomorrow morning?" The Doctor asked.

"Nothing. Nothing, just stuff." Amy said.

"All right, then. Back in time for stuff." Marianne smiled. The Doctor turned around as two new screwdrivers emerged from the console's surface.

"Oh! A new one!" He exclaimed. "And finally one for you." He grinned, giving the other to Marianne. "Thanks, Dear." He whispered to his ship. Marianne grinned and kissed his cheek.

"Why me?" Amy asked.

"Why not?" Marianne asked, pocketing her sonic.

"No, seriously. You're asking me to run away with you in the middle of the night. It's a fair question. Why me?" She asked.

"I don't know. Fun. Do we have to have a reason?" The Doctor asked, frowning.

"People always have a reason." Amy claimed.

"Do we look like people?" Marianne questioned, before frowning when she realised how stupid that sounded.

"Yes." Amy nodded, smirking.

"Been knocking around on our own for a while. Our choice, but we've started talking to ourselves." The Doctor said, taking Marianne's hand.

"You're lonely. That's it. Just that?" Amy asked.

"Just that. Promise." The Doctor nodded, as the monitor behind him mimicked the crack that was in Amelia's bedroom.

"So, are you OK, then? This place, sometimes it can overwhelm people." Marianne asked.

"I'm fine. It's just... There's a whole world in here, just like you said. It's all true. I thought, well. I started to think that you were just like a madman and a madwoman in a box." Amy explained.

"Amelia Pond, there's something you'd better understand. It's important, and one day your life might depend upon it. We are definitely a madman and a madwoman in a box!" Marianne laughed, as did Amy.

"Goodbye Leadworth. Hello, everything!" The Doctor exclaimed.


	7. Chapter 7

Amy, wearing her nightgown and dressing gown, was floating in space, through the open door of the TARDIS. A hand was clasped around her ankle, and that hand belonged to the Doctor.

_'My name is Amy Pond. When I was seven, I had two imaginary friends. Last night was the night before my wedding, and my imaginary friends came back.'_

"Come on, Pond." The Doctor said lightheartedly, pulling Amy back into the ship. Marianne was stood by the door, arms folded, smile on her face.

"Now do you believe us?" Mari asked, smirking at the ginger woman.

"OK, your box is a spaceship. It's really, really a spaceship. We are in SPACE! Woo!" Amy exclaimed, gazing out into the cosmos with wide eyes. "What are we breathing?" She asked, concerned.

"I've extended the air shell- we're fine." The Doctor assured her. Marianne joined Amy at the door and gazed out into the universe.

"Now that's interesting." She said, bending down to find them floating over a spaceship. "29th Century, Solar flares roast the Earth..." She said, rushing to the Doctor at the console. "... And the entire human race packs its bags and moves out until the weather improves. Whole nations.." Marianne rambled.

"Marianne?" Amy asked.

".. Migrating to the stars." Marianne continued.

"Doctor?!" Amy called.

"Isn't that amazing?" The Doctor grinned.

"OI!" Amy yelled. The Time Lord's turned around to find Amy wasn't there. She was clinging to the roof of the TARDIS, as you do.

"Well, come on. I've found us a spaceship." The Doctor tutted. Marianne helped Amy clamber back into the ship, where she then shut the doors. They both joined the Doctor at the console, and he showed them the spaceship they were above on the TARDIS monitor.

"This is the United Kingdom of Britain and Northern Ireland. All of it, bolted together and floating in the sky. Starship UK. Britain, but metal. That's not just a ship, that's an idea. That's a whole country, living and laughing and... Shopping." The Doctor said, and Amy chuckled. "Searching the stars for a new home." He said, somewhat sadly.

"Can we go out and see?" Amy asked.

"Yes. But first, there's a thing." The Doctor said, and Marianne rolled her eyes.

"A thing?" Amy asked.

"An important thing. In fact, thing one... We are observers only. That's the one rule we've always stuck to in our travels. We never get involved in the affairs of other peoples or planets." The Doctor explained.

"Ooh! That's interesting!" Marianne exclaimed, zooming in on the image to find a young girl, sitting on a bench on her own, crying.

"So we're like a wildlife documentary, yeah? 'Cause if they see a wounded little cub or something, they can't just save it, they've got to keep filming it and let it die." Amy said, watching the girl with a sour expression. "That's got to be hard." She said quietly. "I don't think I could do that. Don't you find that hard, being all like, detached and cold?" She asked.

"Amelia. Rule one. The Doctor lies." She winked, dashing out of the doors to join the Doctor who had already gone to comfort the girl. Amy's eyes widened and she rushed after her.

They were in a marketplace. There were stalls and people and booths.

"I'm in the future. Like hundreds... Of years into the future. I've been dead for centuries." Amy said, sounding small and terrified.

"Oh, lovely. You're a cheery one." The Doctor said sarcastically, taking Marianne's hand and walking away, motioning for Amy to follow. "Never mind dead, look at the place. Isn't it wrong?" He asked.

"What's wrong?" Amy asked.

"Use your eyes, notice everything. What's wrong with this picture?" Marianne urged.

"Is it... The bicycles? Bit unusual on a spaceship, bicycles." Amy shrugged.

"Says the girl in the nightie." The Doctor smirked. Amy's eyes widened, and Marianne smirked.

"Oh, my God. I'm in my nightie!" She exclaimed, looking suddenly distraught. The Time Lord's both ignored her.

"Now, come on, look around you. Actually look." Marianne instructed.

"Life on a giant star ship. Back to basics. Bicycles, washing lines, wind up street lamps. But look closer. Secrets and shadows, lives led in fear. Society bent out of shape, on the brink of collapse. A police state." The Doctor rambled. "Excuse me." He said, running over to a table and snatching a glass of water from the customers sat there. He sat it gently on the floor and looked at it intently before returning it back to the table.

"Why did you just do that with the water?" Amy frowned.

"Don't know. We think a lot." Marianne grinned. "It's hard to keep track." The Doctor nodded and pointed at her in a way that said -Exactly! Amy looked at the floor.

"Now, police state. Do you see it yet?" The Doctor asked her.

"Where?" Amy asked.

"There." The Doctor said, moving his point from Marianne to the girl sat crying on her own. The trio took off walking toward her.

"One little girl crying, so?" Amy asked, frowning as they sat on a red bench in front of the girl.

"Crying silently. I mean, children cry 'cause they want attention, 'cause they're hurt or afraid. When they cry silently, it's 'cause they just can't stop. Any parent knows that." The Doctor explained.

"Are you a parent?" Amy asked, turning to them both. The Doctor nodded, but looked sheepishly at the ground. Marianne smiled.

"We don't together." She smiled, taking his hand. Amy nodded.

"Hundreds of parents walking past this spot and not one of them's asking her what's wrong, which means... They already know, and it's something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows- whatever they're afraid of- it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state." The Doctor explained quickly, trying to change the subject.

The little girl stood up as a bell rang, and a creepy carnival like figure seemed to watch her do so.

"Where'd she go?" Amy asked.

"Deck 207, Apple Sesame block, Dwelling 54A. You're looking for Mandy Tanner. Oh..." Marianne said, reaching into the Doctor's pocket and pulling out Mandy's ID wallet. "This fell out of her pocket when he accidentally bumped into her." She handed her the wallet.

"Took me four goes." The Doctor grinned. "Ask her about those things- the smiling fellows in the booths. They're everywhere." The Doctor added.

"But they're just things." Amy insisted.

"They're clean." Marianne told her. "Everything else here is filthy and dirty, look at it. But no one's even touched those booths. Not a footprint within two feet of them. Ask her why people are scared of the things in the booths." Marianne nodded.

"No, hang on. What do I do?" Amy asked. "I don't know what I'm doing here and I'm not even dressed!" Amy hissed.

"It's this or Leadworth. What do you think? Let's see. What will Amy Pond choose?" He asked darkly, cornering her. Amy blanched. "Haha! Gotcha!" He grinned, checking his watch. "Meet us back here in half an hour." He instructed.

"What are you going to do?" Amy demanded.

"What we always do. Stay out of trouble." The Doctor said, as he and Marianne stood up. "Badly." He said, and they both leaped over the bench and walked away. Amy also stood up and leaned on the bench, glaring at them both.

"So is this how it works, Doctor? You never interfere in the affairs of other peoples or planets, unless there's children crying?" Amy demanded.

"Yes." Marianne said quietly, and they both walked away. Amy sighed, resigned to her mundane task.

The Doctor and Marianne climbed down a ladder- the Doctor in front and Mari following- and jumped from the last step to the ground. Marianne placed her hands on the wall before leaning in to listen. They were in the maintenance corridor, as it happened.

"Can't be." Marianne said, taking out her new sonic screwdriver to take a reading. The Doctor was stepped back, admiring her from a far. His arms were crossed and he had a faint smile as he watched her work.

He turned away when she turned to look at him, and pretended to fluff his hair up.

"Stop staring at me. It's creepy." She told him with a grin. He pretended not to hear as he dove onto the floor when he saw a glass of water there. He stared at it.

"I'm allowed to stare at you if I want." He said eventually, and Marianne laughed. She also bent down to look at the glass. They could see each other through opposite ends of the glass, and they were both secretly smiling at the other.

A cough from above them broke them from their trance, and they looked up.

"The impossible truth in a glass of water." A woman in a red cloak and a porcelain mask whispered. "Not many people see it. But you do, don't you Marianne? Doctor?" The woman asked.

"You know us?" Mari asked, standing up.

"Keep your voice down." The woman whispered. "They're everywhere. Tell me what you see in the glass." The woman instructed.

"Who says we saw anything?" The Doctor asked, also standing up and moving himself slightly in front of Marianne, a feeble attempt to protect her.

"Don't waste time. At the marketplace, you placed a glass of water on the floor, looked at it then came straight here to the engine room. Why?" The woman asked.

"No engine vibration on deck. Ship this size, engine this big, you'd feel it." The Doctor explained. "The water would move. So.. I thought I'd take a look." He shrugged, opening a power box on the wall. There were wires in the boxes, but they weren't connected. "It doesn't make sense. There power couplings, they're not connected. They're dummies, see?"

He nodded to Marianne, and she walked to the opposite wall and knocked on it like she had done before. "Behind this wall is nothing, it's hollow." Sh said. "If I didn't know better, I'd say there was..." Marianne began.

"No engine at all." The woman whispered, finishing the sentence for her.

"But it's working. This ship is travelling through space. I saw it." The Doctor insisted.

"The impossible truth. We're travelling among the stars in a spaceship that could never fly." The woman said.

"How?" Marianne asked.

"I don't know." The woman shrugged. "There's a darkness at the heart of this nation. It threatens every one of us. Help us. You're our only hope. Your friend is safe." The woman promised, handing the Doctor a device. "This will take you to her. Now go, quickly!" She exclaimed.

"Who are you? How do we find you again?" Marianne called after her. The woman turned around.

"I am Liz 10. And I will find you." She promised. There was a clashing sound that made them both turn around. When they looked back, Liz had gone.

"This isn't a trick. You've got to find the Doctor and Marianne, and get them back to the TARDIS. Don't let them investigate. Stop them. Do whatever you have to. Just please, please get them off this ship!" An onscreen Amy exclaimed, crying into her sleeve.

The door to the room Amy was in opened and Mandy was waiting for her. Amy looked horrified at the message she'd left herself, but quickly wiped it away when she heard the Doctor and Marianne walk in.

"Amy?" The Doctor yelled. "What have you done?" He asked quietly upon seeing her sheepish face.

Marianne was stood on the chair using her sonic on the light above them. "Your basic memory wipe. Must have erased about 20 minutes." She explained, and she jumped down.

"But why would I choose to forget?" Amy frowned.

"'Cause everyone does. Everyone chooses to forget." Mandy explained.

"Did you?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm not eligible to vote yet. I'm 12. Any time after you're 16, you're allowed to see the film and make your choice. And then, once every five years..." Mandy explained.

"And once in every five years, everyone chooses to forget what they've learned. Democracy in action." Marianne sighed as the Doctor headed to the monitors.

"How do you not know about this? Are you Scottish too?" Mandy asked, frowning.

"Oh, we're way worse than Scottish. I can't even see the movie. Won't play for us." The Doctor shrugged.

"It played for me." Amy said.

"The different being the computer doesn't accept us as humans." Marianne explained. Amy frowned.

"Why not? You look human." Amy stated, and the Doctor looked at her.

"No, you look Time Lord. We came first." He explained, and Marianne grinned at him.

"So there are other Time Lords?" Amy questioned.

"No. There were, but there aren't. Just us now. Long story. Bad day. Bad things happened." Marianne explained sadly.

"And you know what? I'd love to forget it all, every last bit of it, but we don't. 'Cause this is what we do, every time, every day, every second. This. Hold tight. We're bringing down the government." The Doctor grinned, pounding the protest button with his fist. The doors slammed shut, leaving Mandy outside. The Smiler in the booth turned to show a very angry face. The Doctor pulled Marianne to his body, and then pulled Amy to his side. The Doctor then linked his arms together in a loop around Marianne's stomach, again, as feeble protection.

"Say, 'Wheeee!'" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Aaaargh!" Amy yelled as the doorway below them opened up, and they fell down a chute.

The all fell down, screaming as they did so. The Doctor immediately stood up and used his sonic screwdriver to try and find out where they wer.

"High speed air cannon. Shoddy way to travel." Marianne explained, groaning slightly.

"Where are we?" Amy asked.

"600 feet down, 20 miles laterally. Puts us at the heart of the ship. I'd say... Lancashire. What's this, then- a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave." The Doctor rambled. Marianne stood up and then helped Amy up too.

"It's a rubbish dump. It's minging!" Amy exclaimed.

"Yes, but only food refuse." The Doctor reasoned. "Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship." The Doctor then shrugged. Amy and Marianne both looked disgusted.

"It feels like a water bed." Marianne said, jumping up and down.

"But feeding what, though?" The Doctor asked.

"It's sort of rubbery, feel it." Amy instructed. The Doctor heard a distant moaning sound and he snapped his head around to look, realising where they were.

"Er, it's not a floor. It's a... So.." The Doctor said quietly.

"It's a what?" Amy asked.

"The next word is kind of a scary word. Take a moment. Get yourself in a calm place. Go 'ommm.'" He ordered, taking both Marianne and Amy's hands in his own.

"Ommm." Amy hummed.

"It's a tongue." The Doctor said.

"A tongue. Of course." Marianne groaned.

"This is a mouth? This whole place is a mouth? We're in a mouth?!" Amy yelled.

"Yes, yes, yes. But on the plus side- roomy." The Doctor grinned.

"How do we get out?" Amy asked.

"How big is this beastie? It's gorgeous! Blimey, if this is just the mouth, I'd love to see the stomach. Though, not right now." The Doctor amended, taking his sonic out again.

"How do we get out?" Amy demanded again.

"OK, it's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is... Closed." Marianne said, turning to find the teeth shut.

"We can try, though." Amy insisted, heading forward.

"No! Stop, don't move!" The Doctor exclaimed as the mouth heaved below her. "Too late. It's started." He sighed.

"What has?" Amy asked.

"Swallow reflex." Marianne said. They slipped and fell back slightly. The Doctor used his sonic on the mouth walls.

"What are you doing? You can't sonic your way out of this one!" Marianne exclaimed, trying not to scream.

"Whatever you say, dear. I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors." He explained.

"OK, maybe you can." She amended. The Doctor grinned slyly at her.

"Chemo-what?" Amy frowned.

"The eject button." Marianne explained.

"How does a mouth have an eject button?" Amy demanded.

"Think about it!" The Doctor exclaimed as the creature growled. They turned to find a wave of bile flowing toward them.

"Right then." The Doctor said, straightening his tie and taking Marianne's hand as she looked both terrified and disgusted. "This isn't going to be big on dignity. Geronimo!" He yelled, as they were washed out of the mouth.

Amy awoke to find Marianne sat next to her, sulking, and the Doctor examining a door. They were back on the ship and out of the mouth.

"There's nothing broken, there's no sign of concussion, and yes, you are covered in sick." The Doctor explained.

"Where are we?" Amy frowned.

"Overspill pipe, at a guess." The Doctor shrugged.

"Oh, God, it stinks." Amy said, standing up.

"That's not the pipe." Marianne snapped. Amy looked hurt.

"Sorry. She gets tetchy when I prove her wrong and when she's thrown about without permission." The Doctor grinned. "Isn't that right, my sweet?" He asked sarcastically.

"I want to get out!" Marianne shouted, not at anyone in particular.

"One door, one door switch, one condition." The Doctor reminded her. "We forget everything we saw." He said looking at the forget button. "Look familiar?"

I always like this episode because the Doctor says 'Lancashire.' Is it sad that I get excited about him saying the county where I live?! Oh well.

And just a side note, Matt Smith supports the football team of my town. Which meaaaans, he's been about five minutes from where I live when he's been to support them! Go Fay! ;-)


	8. Chapter 8

"There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there?" The Doctor asked the girls, and the Smiler's faces spun to show angry faces. "No that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beast below decks, and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?" He demanded, talking to the Smilers.

"Stop it. We're not leaving and we're not forgetting and what are you gonna do about it?" Marianne demanded.

The booths opened and the two angry Smilers stepped out and began walking toward the three of them, and they all backed away. The Doctor automatically took Mari's hand, and Amy looked at the hands in an envious manner.

"Doctor?" Amy asked, worried as the Smiler's continued to stalk them. Behind them, a woman appeared.

She shot the Smilers before twirling her pistol and placing it back in its holster.

"Look who it is." The Doctor quipped as they turned around to see who saved them. "You look better without your mask." He said. It was Liz 10, only this time, she didn't have her porcelain mask.

"You must be Amy. Liz 10." Liz introduced, smiling at the nervous looking Amy.

"Hi." Amy smiled. Liz shook her hand, frowning with disgust as she did so.

"Eurgh!" She exclaimed, wiping her hand on her cloak. "Lovely hair, Amy. Shame about the sick." She smirked, heading for the door. "You know Mandy, yeah? She's very brave." Liz said, putting her arm around Mandy's shoulders who appeared behind the door.

"How did you find us?" Marianne asked.

"Stuck my gizmo on you both." Liz explained, throwing the device at her which she caught. "Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?" Liz asked.

"You're over 16, you've voted. Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it." The Doctor raised his eyebrows at her. Liz shook her head.

"No. Never forgot, never voted. Not technically a British subject." Liz shrugged.

"Then who and what are you, and how do you know us?" The Doctor demanded.

"You're a bit hard to miss, the both of you. Mysterious strangers, never apart, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot..." Liz said, eyeing up the Doctor's messy hair which he then ran a hand through. "I've been brought up on the stories. A love story for the girls, an adventure stories for the boy. Everyone was." Liz smiled. "Especially my family."

"Your family?" Marianne asked.

"They're repairing." Liz said, looking past them at the Smilers. "Doesn't take them long. Let's move." She said, and they left the overspill pipe. They walked through the corridors, where Liz began to explain her life to them.

"The Doctor and Marianne. Old drinking buddies of Henry XII. Tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, wasn't she Doctor? Knighted and exiled you on the same day." Liz rambled.

"Liz 10?" The Doctor asked, understanding. A Smiler rose from a booth in the corridor.

"Liz 10, yeah. Elizabeth X. And down!" She roared, turning and firing at the Smilers. Both fell down. "I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule." Liz smirked. She led them through another corridor, in the base of the Vator shaft.

"There's a high speed Vator through there." Liz explained. The Doctor and Marianne both looked to the right where there was a cage. There were two large tentacle type things in there, and they both frowned. "Oh yeah. There's these things. Any ideas?" Liz asked casually.

"Doctor, I saw one of these up top. There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through, like a root." Amy told him. Marianne frowned once more.

"Exactly like a root." The Doctor mused.

"It's all one creature." Marianne said. "The same one we were inside, reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship."

"What? Like an infestation?" Liz asked.

"Someone's helping it. Feeding it." The Doctor explained.

"Feeding my subjects to it." Liz snarled. "Come on. We've got to keep moving." She said, storming off in anger. Mandy frowned and followed.

Marianne looked at the Doctor, who was only watching the tentacles.

"Doctor?" Marianne asked, putting a hand on the small of his back. Amy looked down.

"Oh, Mari." He sighed, taking her hand. "We should never have come here." He told her, kissing her hand before leading the girls behind Liz.

Liz 10 had taken them to her bedroom, where there was a large amount of glasses on the floor.

"Why all the glasses?" The Doctor asked.

"To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what." Liz explained, from her place on her bed. The Doctor was walking very carefully through the maze of glasses on the floor, while Marianne and Amy sorted their wet hair out.

"A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom." Marianne asked, picking up her porcelain mask and studying it.

"Secrets are being kept from me. I don't have a choice. Ten years I've been at this- my entire reign- and you've achieved more in one afternoon." She frowned, watching the Doctor make his way through the glasses on the floor.

"How old were you when you came to the throne?" He asked.

"40. Why?" Liz asked.

"What, you're 50 now? No way!" Amy exclaimed. Liz definitely didn't look 50. She didn't even look 30.

"Yeah, they slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps." Liz smirked, winking at Amy.

"And you always wear this in public?" The Doctor asked, sitting next to Mari on the bed and taking the mask from her.

"Undercover's not easy when you're me. The autographs, the bunting." Liz shrugged casually.

"Air-balanced porcelain." Marianne said, smacking his hand and taking the mask back again. "Stays on by itself, cos it's perfectly sculpted to your face." She tilted her head.

"Yeah. So what?" Liz asked.

"Oh Liz, so everything." The Doctor sighed. The door suddenly opened and four hooded men walked in.

"What are you doing?" Liz demanded, furious and outraged. "How dare you come in here?!"

"Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK. You will come with us now." One of the hooded men said.

"Why would I do that?" Liz demanded. The hooded man's head span to reveal an angry Smiler.

"How can they be Smilers?" Liz asked, panicking.

"Half Smiler, half human." Marianne explained, looking at them all.

"Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen. On whose authority is this done?" Liz demanded, staring the Smiler in the creepy face.

"The highest authority, Ma'am." The Smiler assured her.

"I AM the highest authority." Liz snapped.

"Yes Ma'am. You must go now, Ma'am." The Smiler ordered.

"Where?" Liz demanded.

"The Tower, Ma'am."

The group was escorted to a large stone room containing many machines. There was a grating in the centre of the room which showed more of the beast below.

"Where are we?" Amy asked.

"The lowest point of Starship UK." Marianne said. "The dungeon."

"Ma'am." A man with grey hair said.

"Hawthorne!" Liz exclaimed. "So this is where you hid yourself away. I think you've got some explaining to do."

"There's children down here. What's all that about?" The Doctor demanded, glaring at Hawthorne.

"Protesters and citizens of limited value are fed to the beast. For some reason, it won't eat the children. You're the first adults it's spared. You're very lucky." Hawthorne said, as if it was a compliment.

"Yeah, look at us. Torture chamber of the Tower of London. How lucky." Marianne said sarcastically. "Except it's not a torture chamber, is it? Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle." She rambled, and the Doctor nodded for support.

The Doctor and Mari joined Liz by the grate. Inside with a pulsating living _thing_ .

"What's that?" Liz asked, looking disgusted.

"Well, like I say, depends on your angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of the beast's brain, being tortured relentlessly..." Marianne began.

"Or?" Liz asked.

"Or it's the gas pedal. The accelerator. Making us go faster." Marianne sighed.

"I don't understand." Liz frowned.

"Don't you?" The Doctor asked. "Try, go on. The starship that could never fly, no vibration on deck. This creature- this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you. It's not invading- it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving." The Doctor explained angrily. "Tell you what..." The Doctor said as an electrical beam continuously shot into the brain. "Normally, it's above the range of human hearing. This is the sound that none of you wanted to hear."

He used his sonic and everyone could hear the creature's call. It's scream.

"Stop it." Liz winced. "Who did this?" Liz demanded, glaring at Hawthorne.

"We act on instructions from the highest authority." Hawthorne shrugged.

"I am the highest authority." Liz repeated. "The creature will be released now. I said now!" She roared. "Is anyone listening to me?" She demanded as nobody moved.

"Your mask." Marianne said, holding it up. She'd been carrying it the entire time.

"What about my mask?" Liz asked.

"Look at it. It's old. At least 200 years, I'd say." Marianne said, throwing it to Liz.

"Yeah, it's an antique. So?" She frowned.

"Yeah, an antique made by craftsmen over 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not 50. Nearer 300. And it's been a long old reign." The Doctor explained, joining Mari and putting her arm around waist.

"Nah, it's 10 years. I've been on this throne ten years." Liz insisted, frowning.

"Ten years. And the same ten years over and over again." Mari quipped. Marianne took her hand. "Always leading you, here." She said, showing her the familiar buttons. One said 'FORGET', but the other said 'ABDICATE.'

"What have you done?" Liz demanded.

"Only what you have ordered." Hawthorne shrugged helplessly. "We work for you Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us." He turned on the screen for her.

"If you are watching this... If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower of London. The creature you are looking at it called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them. They lived in the depths of space, and, according to legend, guided the early space travellers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. And what we have done to it breaks my heart. The Earth was burning. The sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter. And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the Star Whales. We've trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the 'forget' button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released,and our ship will disintegrate. I hope you keep the strength to make the right decision." LIz 10 said, from the screen.

The present Liz 10 was watching in stunned silence. She wished she'd remembered.

"I voted for this?" Amy asked, turning to the Time Lord's who had been watching with emotionless expressions. Typical humans. "Why would I do that?" She asked.

"Because you knew if we stayed here, we'd be faced with an impossible choice. Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save us from that. And that was wrong. You don't ever decide what we need to know." The Doctor said calmly. The anger was present in his voice.

"I don't even remember doing it." Amy snapped.

"You did it. That's what counts." Marianne said quietly.

"I'm... I'm sorry." Amy frowned.

"Oh, I don't care. When we're done here, you're going home." He snapped, walking away and leaving Marianne.

"Why? Because I made a mistake?! One mistake? I don't even remember doing it!" Amy insisted.

"Yeah. I know. You're only human." The Doctor said, checking machinery and equipment.

"What are you doing?" Liz asked, as Marianne walked to his side and began helping him in silence.

"The worst thing I'll ever do. I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it." The Doctor explained angrily.

"That'll be like killing it." Amy refuted.

"Look. There are three options. One: We let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds of more years. Two: We kill everyone on this ship. Three: We murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as possible." Marianne snapped.

"And then _I _ find a new name, 'cause I won't be the Doctor anymore." The Doctor said bitterly.

"There must be something we can do, some other way." Liz insisted

"Nobody except Marianne talk to me. Nobody human has anything to say to me today!" The Doctor yelled.

Amy joined Mandy and sat down against the wall, watching helplessly as the Time Lord's worked. While she did so, she thought. The last of its kind. Loves children. Sounded familiar to her.

"Stop." Amy said suddenly. She walked to them both. "Whatever you're doing, stop it now!" She exclaimed loudly. "Sorry, Your Majesty, going to need a hand." She sand, leading Liz 10 to the buttons.

"Amy, no!" The Doctor exclaimed.

Amy forced Liz to press the abdicate button. The whale bellowed and the ship shook, causing havoc on every level of the ship.

"What have you done?" Marianne shrieked.

"Nothing at all. Am I right?" Amy breathed.

"We've increased speed." Hawthorne noted.

"Yeah, well, you've stopped torturing the pilot. Gotta help." Amy smiled innocently. They'd stopped sending the beam through the Whale's mind, so he didn't mind taking them a little bit faster.

"It's still here? I don't understand." Liz frowned.

"The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago. It volunteered. You didn't have to trap it or torture it. That was all just you. It came because it couldn't stand to watch your children cry. What if you were really old, and really kind and alone? Your whole race dead, no future. What couldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the last of your kind... You couldn't just stand there and watch children cry." Amy explained, looking brightly at the Time Lords. The last of their kind.

The Doctor was standing alone looking out onto the starship. It was a large observation deck, with huge glass windows that showed him the stars. A hand tapped his shoulder and he turned to find Marianne stood there. He smiled and took her hand as she stood next to him.

"Don't be too hard on her. She saved it's life." Marianne told him, leaning her head on his shoulder. He sighed. "Just apologize and we'll move on." She advised. He nodded.

Amy sidled over to them, looking down at the mask in her hand. Liz's mask.

"From Her Majesty." Amy said, holding out the mask. "She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK." She smiled.

"Amy, you could have killed everyone on this ship." The Doctor sighed.

"You could have killed a Star Whale." Amy raised her eyebrows.

"And you saved it." The Doctor said. "I know, I know." He smiled.

"Amazing though, don't you think? The Star Whale. All that pain and misery... And loneliness. And it just made it kind. Even though it doesn't have it's Marianne." She said.

"But you couldn't have known how it would react." The Doctor told her.

"YOU couldn't. Neither of you could. But I've seen it before. Very old and very kind, and the only ones left. Sound familiar?" Amy asked. They all smiled at her, and all three of them had a group hug. "Hey." Amy said.

"What?" Marianne asked.

"Gotcha." Amy grinned. Mari laughed and the Doctor smirked.

"Haha! Gotcha!" Marianne grinned.

Back in the TARDIS, the phone was ringing.

"Right. There's something I haven't told you. Hang on, is that a phone ringing?" Amy asked. "People phone you?"

"Well, it's a phone box. Would you mind getting that?" Marianne asked pleasantly.

"Hello?" Amy answered. "Sorry, who? No, seriously, who? Says he's the Prime Minister. First the Queen, now the Prime Minister. Get about, don't you?" Amy asked them both.

"Which Prime Minister?" The Doctor frowned as he pulled a lever. Marianne span a dial.

"Er, which Prime Minister?" Amy asked, before turning back to them. "The British one." She said.

"Which British one?" Marianne sighed.

"Which British one?" Amy asked. Her eyes widened and she shoved the phone to Marianne's chest. "Winston Churchill."

"Oh! Hello, dear. What's up?" Marianne asked into the phone.


	9. Chapter 9

The Doctor and Marianne stepped out of the TARDIS, hand in hand, to find dozens of soldiers surrounding them with guns pointed at their heads. The soldiers parted in a U-Shape for Winston Churchill.

"Amy..." The Doctor trailed, holding his free arm out as an introduction. "Winston Churchill." He smiled.

"Doctor? Is it you? And Marianne?" Churchill asked, smiling to himself. Amy stepped out of the TARDIS and stared at the prime minister in wonder.

"Oh, Winston, my old friend!" The Doctor exclaimed happily, going to shake his hand. He retracted said hand, however, when Churchill motioned that he wanted something.

"What's he after?" Amy asked.

"TARDIS key, of course." Marianne smirked, patting her shirt pocket to make sure hers was still there.

"Think of what I could achieve with your remarkable machine, my dear girl! The lives that could be saved!" Winston exclaimed desperately.

"Ah, doesn't work like that." The Doctor reminded him, closing the TARDIS door.

"Must I take it by force?" Churchill asked, threatening but humourous.

"I'd like to see you try." The Doctor smirked.

"At ease." Churchill motioned for the soldiers to lower their rifles, which they did.

"You rang?" Marianne asked kindly, smiling when they lowered their guns.

"See you've changed your faces again." Churchill said as they strode through the Cabinet War Rooms as the air raid happened up above.

"Yeah, well, had a bit of work done." The Doctor shrugged.

"Speak for yourself. I fell from a very high building." Marianne explained. Amy frowned, shocked. Was she telling the truth?

"Got it, got it, got it. Cabinet War Rooms, right?" She asked, eager to change the subject.

"Yup. Top secret heart of the War Office, right under London." The Doctor nodded.

"You're late, by the way." Churchill chided. Marianne rolled her eyes.

"Requisitions, sir." A woman said, handing Churchill a clipboard and pen.

"Excellent." The man beamed.

"Late?" The Doctor frowned. Churchill nodded.

"I rang you a month ago." He muttered, signing the papers.

"Really? Sorry, sorry. It's a type 40 TARDIS. We're just running her in." The Doctor shrugged helplessly.

"Something the matter, Breen? You look a little down in the dumps." Churchill told the woman, handing the woman her clipboard back.

"No, sir. Fine, sir." The woman said, hugging the clipboard to her chest.

"Action this day, Breen. Action this day!" Churchill exclaimed merrily.

"Yes, sir." Breen nodded, forcing a smile and glancing at Amy before leaving. Amy glared at her as she walked away.

"Excuse me, sir, got another formation coming in, Prime Minister. Stukas, by the look of them." An officer said, walking over to the man.

"We shall go up then, Group Captain! We'll give 'em what for! Coming?" Churchill asked.

"Why?" Marianne asked, confused.

"I have something to show you." Churchill grinned, grabbing his cane back from the Doctor who'd been carrying it.

The Doctor mouthed an 'oooh' to Marianne and she giggled. Amy smirked and followed them all, trying to keep her mind from the Doctor and Marianne's clasped hands and the fact that she was missing an engagement ring.

Churchill got in the lift and lit his cigar. Marianne waved the smoke away.

"We stand at a crossroads. Quite alone, with our backs to the wall. Invasion is expected daily. So I will grasp with both hands anything that will give us an advantage over the Nazi menace." Winston began his explanation for the abomination on the roof.

"Such as?" Marianne urged. The lift stopped and Churchill opened the gate, smiling at her sweetly.

"Follow me." He said.

Amongst the sand bags on the roof, a man with a white coat was watching the sky intently with binoculars. The Doctor, Marianne and Amy all followed Churchill along the roof.

"Wow!" Amy exclaimed, and Marianne smiled at her.

"Doctor, this is Professor Edwin Bracewell, head of our Ironsides Project." Churchill introduced. The Doctor and Marianne both automatically held up the two fingers for the 'V for Victory' sign.

"How d'you do?" Bracewell asked, momentarily looking at them before looking back through his binoculars. A formation of distinct German planes were approaching them. The trio walked toward the edge of the roof and looked out over London at the barrage balloons and the dropping bombs.

"Oh... Oh Doctor... It's..." Amy fumbled for the right words.

"History." Marianne grinned. Amy nodded.

"Ready, Bracewell?" Churchill interrupted their musings.

"Aye-aye sir." Bracewell said, giving the 'thumbs up' sign. "On my order! Fire!" He exclaimed. From within a sand bagged area, laser beams fired into the sky and destroyed the German planes.

"What was that?" Amy asked, surprised.

"That wasn't human." The Doctor said, feeling Marianne's hand tense in his. "That was never human technology. That sounded like... Show me! Show me what that was!" He roared, leaving Marianne and Amy and climbing up a ladder to join Bracewell.

"Advance!" Bracewell exclaimed.

"Our new secret weapon!" Churchill beamed, proud.

A Dalek wheeled out. It was painted in army khaki, a utility belt wound just below it's head and a small union jack under the eye stalk. It's communication lights were covered.

The Doctor was silent, horrified.

"What? What is it?" Marianne asked, also climbing up. She saw it and climbed back down, breathing heavily and looking generally terrified. Amy put a hand on her arm to calm her down.

"What do you think? Quite something, hm?" Churchill asked.

"What are you doing here?" The Doctor demanded, glaring at the Dalek.

"I am your solider." The Dalek croaked.

"What?" Marianne called, climbing back up the ladder once more, surprised. Amy joined them and caught sight of the Dalek.

"I am your soldier." The Dalek repeated.

"Stop this." The Doctor said. "Stop now! You know who I am, you always know." The Doctor shouted.

"Your identity is unknown." The Dalek said.

"Perhaps I can clarify things here, this is one of my Ironsides." Bracewell smiled.

"Your what?" Marianne frowned.

"You will help the Allied cause in any way that you can?" Bracewell asked the Dalek.

"Yes."

"Until the Germans have been utterly smashed?" Bracewell asked, and Churchill smiled.

"Yes."

"And what is your ultimate aim?" Bracewell finally questioned.

"To win the war!" The Dalek exclaimed.

In Churchill's office, a horrified Doctor and Marianne paced around, looking at the blueprints for the Ironside and frowning intently.

"They're Daleks! They're called Daleks!" The Doctor insisted.

"They are Bracewell's Ironsides, Doctor! Look! Blueprints, statistics, field-tests, photographs. He invented them!" Churchill exclaimed.

"Invented them? No!" Marianne yelled.

"Yes! He approached one of our brass hats a few months ago. Fella's a genius." Churchill grumbled.

"A Scottish genius, too. Maybe you should listen to..." Amy interrupted.

"He didn't invent them! They're alien!" The Doctor insisted.

"Alien?" Churchill asked seriously. A Dalek glided by the open door and the Doctor and Marianne both stopped talking, sensing it's presence. It stopped and looked in before continuing to glide past.

"And totally hostile." Marianne hissed.

"Precisely. They will win me the war!" Churchill exclaimed. He turned over a blueprint to show a large propaganda poster of a Dalek.

"Why won't you listen? Why call us if you won't listen to us?!" The Doctor demanded as Churchill began marching them down a corridor.

"When I rang you both a month ago, I must admit, I had my doubts. The Ironsides seemed too good to be true." Churchill admitted.

"Yes! Right! So destroy them! Exterminate them!" The Doctor begged.

"But imagine what I could do with a hundred! A thousand!" Winston exclaimed, his eyes lighting up.

"I am imagining. Amelia, tell him." Marianne urged, frustrated.

"Tell him what?" Amy asked.

"About the Daleks!" Mari exclaimed.

"What would I know about the Daleks?" Amy frowned.

"Everything." The Doctor nodded. "They invaded your world, remember? Planets in the sky, you don't forget that! Amy... Tell me you remember the Daleks." The Doctor frowned.

"Nope, sorry." Amy shrugged.

"That's not possible." Marianne said, looking at the Doctor who also looked confused.

They walked into the map room where various women were manning the radios and moving figures on the maps.

"So they're up to something, but what is it? What are they after?" The Doctor asked, talking to Marianne.

"Well, let's just ask, shall we?" Amy asked, walking up to a Dalek.

"Amy! Amelia!" The Doctor yelled. Amy tapped on the Dalek's casing and watched as it swivelled around and focused it's eye stalk on her.

"Can I be of assistance?" The Dalek asked.

"I don't like it when it's polite. It's too weird." Marianne whispered.

"Just be thankful they're not trying to kill us." The Doctor sighed, his hand on her shoulder.

"Oh. Yes. Yes! See, my friends reckon your dangerous." Amy told the Dalek. "That you're an alien. Is it true?" Amy asked.

"I am your soldier." The Dalek told her. Amy rolled her eyes.

"Yeah. Got that bit. Love a squaddie. What else, though?" She questioned.

"Please excuse me, I have duties to perform." The Dalek said.

"Typical. Changing the subject." Marianne hissed to the Doctor. He nodded absently and pulled her over to Churchill who was taking another cigar.

"Winston, Winston, please." The Doctor pleaded.

"We are waging total war. Day after day, the Luftwaffe pound this great city like an iron fist." Churchill said.

"Wait till the Daleks get started." The Doctor snapped.

"Men, womenn and children slaughtered. Families torn apart. Wren's churches in flames." Winston listed.

"Try the Earth in flames." Marianne hissed.

"I weep for my country, I weep for my empire. It is breaking my heart." Winston snapped.

"But you're resisting, Winston! The whole world knows you're resisting. You're a beacon of hope." Marianne insisted, following him around the table as he walked.

"But for how long?" Churchill turned to her. "Millions of innocent lives will be saved if I use these Ironsides now!" He insisted.

"Can I be of assistance?" The Dalek asked.

"Shut it!" The Doctor yelled at the Dalek. "Listen to me, just listen! The Daleks have no conscience, no mercy, no pity. They are our oldest and deadliest enemy. You cannot trust them!"

"It Hitler invaded hell, I would give a favourable reference to the Devil! These machines are our salvation!" Churchill exclaimed. The all-clear sounded. "Oh, the all-clear. We are safe. For now." He said, glaring at the Time Lord's before leaving.

The Doctor and Marianne both stared at the Dalek, before it turned away and left.

"Hey, it's the all-clear. Are you OK?" Amy asked gently.

"What does hate look like, Amelia?" Marianne asked.

"Hate?" Amy frowned.

"It looks like a Dalek. And we're going to prove it." The Doctor nodded insistently, grabbing Marianne's hand and marching the two of them out.

The trio strode into Bracewell's office, the two Time Lord's immediately checking everything out.

"Alright! The PM's been filling us in. Amazing things, these Ironsides of yours. Amazing. You must be very proud of them." The Doctor nodded.

"Just doing my bit." Bracewell shrugged.

"Not bad for a Paisley boy." Amy said, absently picking up a spanner. The Doctor sat on a chair and began reading a file that Marianne passed to him as she rifled through documents and folders.

"Yes, I thought I detected a familiar cadence, my dear." Bracewell smiled at the fellow Scot.

"How did you do it? Come up with the idea?" The Doctor asked without looking up.

"How does the muse of invention come to anyone?" Bracewell shrugged.

"But you get a lot of clever notions, do you?" Marianne asked.

"Well, ideas just seem to teem from my head! Wonderful things! Like... Let me show you." Bracewell said excitedly, grabbing some files. "Some musings on the potential of hypersonic flight. Gravity bubbles that could sustain life outside of the terrestrial atmosphere! Came to me in the bath!" The man grinned.

"And are these your ideas or theirs?" The Doctor questioned, no hint of amusement in his voice.

"No, no, no. These robots are under my control, Doctor. They are... The perfect servant." Bracewell said as a Dalek brought him a cup of tea. "And the perfect warrior."

"I don't know what you're up to, Professor, but whatever they're promised, you cannot trust them at all! Call them what you like, the Daleks mean death!" Marianne exclaimed.

"Yes, Marianne dewar. Death to our enemies! Death to the forces of darkness, and death to the Third Reich!" Churchill exclaimed as he walked into the room.

"Yes, Winston, and death to everyone else too!" The Doctor exclaimed, frustrated deeply.

"Would you care for some tea?" The Dalek asked the Doctor.

The Doctor hit the tray from the bottom and caused the tea and tray to fall to the ground. Marianne sighed. "Stop this! What are you doing here? What do you want?" The Doctor roared.

"We seek only to help you." The Dalek insisted.

"To do what?" The Doctor demanded.

"To win the war." The Dalek replied.

"Really? Which war?" He asked calmly. Marianne swallowed, not wanting to see him angry.

"I do not understand."

"This war, against the Nazis? Or your war? The war against the rest of the Universe? The war against all life forms that are not Dalek?" The Doctor demanded.

"I do not understand. I am your soldier." The Dalek replied.

"Oh yeah? OK." The Doctor nodded, turning around and picking up a spanner. "OK, soldier, defend yourself!" He began hitting the Dalek repeatedly with the spanner, smashing it over and over again.

"Doctor..." Marianne began.

"Doctor, what the devil...?!" Bracewell exclaimed, wide eyed.

"You do not require tea?" The Dalek asked. The Doctor continued striking the Dalek, who seemed helpless. Marianne frowned.

"Stop it! Prime Minister, please!" Bracewell exclaimed.

"Doctor. please, these machines are precious." Churchill claimed.

"Doctor. Come on." Marianne said, putting a hand on his arm. His other arm lashed out to stop her arm, pushed her away. He turned to her with a glare so harsh her mouth opened and she glared back. She dropped her hand and stepped back. The Doctor immediately looked like he regretted it.

"Marianne.." He said, but she ignored him. He looked incredibly upset, with tears welling in his eyes at her hurt look. He'd hurt her, and he couldn't quite believe it. He turned back to the Dalek, angrier than before.

"What are you waiting for?!" He demanded. "You hate me. You want to kill me. Well, go on! Kill me! Kill me!" The Doctor yelled, tears falling down his face as he struck the Dalek once more.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted, angry at the push he'd given Marianne.

"Please desist from striking me. I am your soldier." The Dalek croaked.

"You are my enemy! And I am yours! You are everything I despise! The worst thing in all creation. I've defeated you time and time again. I sent you back into the void! I saved the whole of reality from you! I am the Doctor! And you are the Daleks!" The Doctor yelled, his voice breaking. He kicked the Dalek. "Marianne, please. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to.." He croaked, and Marianne inhaled deeply.

"Correct." The Dalek suddenly said, and both Marianne and the Doctor's heads whipped around to look at it. "Review testimony."

"I am the Doctor. And you are the Daleks!" The Doctor's voice came on playback.

"Testimony? What are you talking about?" Marianne asked.

"Transmitting testimony now." The second Dalek said.

"Transmit what? Where?" The Doctor demanded.

"Testimony accepted!"

"Get back! All of you!" The Doctor exclaimed, gently taking Marianne's arm and taking her behind him. She shook his arm off and stood with Amy behind him. They both knew that she'd usually stand by his side.

But she'd deeply upset him. He'd pushed her away, hit her hand, and he felt awful for it.

"Marines! Marines! Get in here!" Churchill called. Two marines entered and one of the Daleks shot them straight away.

"Stop it! Stop it, please! What are you doing? You are my Ironsides!" Bracewell exclaimed helplessly.

"We are the Daleks!" A Dalek corrected.

"But I created you!" Bracewell cried.

"No." The Dalek spat, shooting Bracewell's hand to reveal a stump of wires and circuitry. "We created you!"

"Victory! Victory! Victory!" The Daleks chanted in unison, and teleported to their home ship.

"What just happened?" Amy asked, stunned.

"I wanted to know what they wanted, what their plan was. I was their plan!" The Doctor exclaimed, before turning to Marianne.

"Marianne.." He tried once more.

"Save it. We do what we have to do and that's it. This can wait." Marianne told him, charging from the room.

"I can't believe you pushed her." Amy said, before following Marianne. The Doctor closed his eyes, distraught.

"I don't want to leave it until later!" He exclaimed, following the girls. "I want you to shout at me now!" He said.

"Fine. What you just did was awful and I'm really upset and angry at you. What else can I say? This isn't helping anything!" Marianne exclaimed, eyes wide. "Just... Come on!" She exclaimed, hitting his chest gently.

"Yes. Right." He said, leading the way back to the TARDIS and pushing his emotions aside until later. "Testimony accepted! That's what they said. Testimony." The Doctor said.

"Don't beat yourself up. You were both right." Amy said. The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS. "What do we do? Is this what we do now? Chase after them?" She asked excitedly.

"This is what I do. It's dangerous, so wait here." The Doctor said, motioning for Amy to stay put. "Are you coming with me?" He asked Marianne gently. She nodded.

Churchill walked and stood next to Amy.

"What, so you mean I've got to stay safe down here in the middle of the London Blitz?" Amy demanded.

"Safe as it gets around us." Marianne shrugged, waving as they stepped into the TARDIS. As they dematerialized, Amy sighed.

"What do they expect us to do now?" Amy asked.

"KBO, of course." Churchill shrugged.

"What?" Amy turned to him.

"Keep buggering on!" Churchill exclaimed wildly.

As the Doctor flew the TARDIS with Marianne, he continued his apology spree.

"I would never do a thing to hurt you, they just make me so _mad." _ He said with gritted teeth.

"Hey." Marianne said, and he stopped and looked at her. She walked to him and put her hand on the side of his face. "I know." She told him. She kissed him gently. "I know." She assured him, smiling. He smiled back and covered the hand on his face with his own.

"I love you." He told her.

"I love you too." She said. "Now let's go after the tea-making Daleks. How are they even making tea? They don't have hands." Marianne rambled as she continued to fly the TARDIS. The Doctor smirked as they materialised on the Dalek ship.

They both burst from the TARDIS.

"How about that cuppa now, then?" The Doctor asked the small group of Daleks.

"It is the Doctor! Exterminate!" They exclaimed.

"Wait, wait, wait! I wouldn't if I were you!" The Doctor shouted, pulling out a jammie dodger from his pocket and holding it up dangerously. Marianne looked at him as if he were crazy. "TARDIS self-destruct. And you know what that means. Our ship goes, you all go with it." The Doctor explained.

"You would not use such a device." One Dalek insisted.

"Try me." The Doctor challenged. "Ah! No scans! No nothing! One move and I'll destroy us all, you got that? TARDIS bang-bang, Daleks boom!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Good boys." He said as the Daleks moved back.

"This ship's pretty beaten up." Marianne noted. "Running on empty, like you. When we last met, you were at the end of your rope. Finished." She said, taunting them.

"One ship survived." A Dalek replied.

"One ship always does surivive." Marianne sighed. "You can never just die."

"And you fell back through time, yes? Crippled? Dying?" The Doctor asked.

"We picked up a trace. One of the Progenitor devices." The Dalek confirmed.

"Progenitor? What's that?" The Doctor asked, still yielding the biscuit.

"It is our past. And our future." A Dalek explained.

"Oh, that's deep." Marianne nodded sarcastically. "That is deep for a Dalek. What does it mean, though?" She asked.

"It contains pure Dalek DNA, thousands were created, all were lost, save one." A Dalek replied.

"OK. Fine. Got that. But there's still one thing I don't get, though. If you've got a Progenitor, why build Bracewell?" The Doctor frowned.

"It was... Necessary." A Dalek said.

"But why?" The Doctor asked. "Oh! I get it! Oh, this is rich! The Progenitor wouldn't recognise you, would it? It saw you as impure, the DNA is unrecognisable as Dalek." The Doctor grinned.

"A solution was devised." A Dalek confirmed.

"Yes. Me. My testimony. So you set a trap, you knew that the Progenitor would recognise me. The Dalek's greatest enemy! It would accept my word. My recognition of you." The Doctor nodded. One of the Daleks turned to a panel behind it.

"What are you doing?" Marianne demanded. "Self-destruct button!" She exclaimed, pointing to the biscuit.

"Withdraw now, Time Lords, or the city dies in flames." The Dalek promised.

"Who are you kidding? This ship is a wreck. You don't have the power to destroy London." The Doctor sneered.

"Watch as the humans destroy themselves." The Dalek replied.


	10. Chapter 10

The Daleks had turned the lights on in London, stopping the black out and helping the German planes to find London.

"Turn those lights off now. Turn London off or I swear he will use the TARDIS self-destruct button." Marianne shouted, in a way that even scared the Doctor until he remembered she was on his side.

"Stalemate. Leave us, and return to Earth." A Dalek replied.

"Oh, that's it?" The Doctor demanded. "That's your great victory? You leave?" He asked.

"Extinction is not an option. We shall return to our own time and begin again." The Dalek claimed.

"No, no, no! I won't let you get away this time! I won't!" The Doctor roared, as there was a mechanical noise and some soft beating.

"We have succeeded. DNA reconstruction is complete." A Dalek said as they glided back from a cubicle enveloped in red energy. The doors slid open with some sparks.

"Observe, Time Lords, a new Dalek paradigm!" A Dalek exclaimed. They watched as a new and huge Dalek emerged through the smoke and steam and sparks, flanked by four others. A white one, a blue one, a yellow one, an orange one and a red one.

"The Progenitor has fulfilled our new destiny. Behold, the restoration of the Daleks! The resurrection of the master race!" The same Dalek roared.

"You are inferior!" The white Dalek exclaimed.

"Yes." The Dalek agreed.

"Then prepare. Cleanse the unclean! Total obliteration! Disintegrate!" The White Dalek ordered. The blue Dalek shot at the normal Daleks.

"What do you do to the ones who mess up?" The Doctor asked with wide eyes.

"You are Time Lords! You must be exterminated!" The White Dalek shouted. The Doctor pulled out his 'TARDIS destruct button' again.

"Don't mess with me, sweetheart!" The Doctor exclaimed, and Marianne frowned at him. Odd. He shrugged helplessly at her.

The White Dalek programmed them so that they were transmitting to Churchill, Amy and Bracewell.

"We are the paradigm of a new Dalek race." The white Dalek announced.

"It's them! It's Marianne and the Doctor!" Amy exclaimed happily.

"Scientist, Strategist, Drone, Eternal and the Supreme." The White, Supreme Dalek said.

"Which would be you, I'm guessing. Nice paint job. I'd be feeling pretty swish too if I looked like you." The Doctor said, and Marianne smirked and had to cover up a laugh.

"Pretty Supreme." She agreed. The Doctor flashed a cheesy grin at her.

"Question is, what do we do now? Either you turn off your clever machine or I'll blow you and your new paradigm into eternity." The Doctor shrugged.

"And yourself." The Supreme Dalek reminded him. "And your love."

"Occupational hazard." Marianne shrugged.

"Scan reveals nothing! TARDIS self-destruct device non-existent!" The blue Dalek, the Strategist Dalek exclaimed.

"All right." The Doctor said and took a bite from the biscuit. It's a Jammy Dodger, but we were promised tea!" He exclaimed. A siren suddenly sounded. The Strategist Dalek went to the scanner.

"Alert! Unidentified projectile approaching! Correction. Multiple projectiles!" It exclaimed.

"What have the humans done?" The Supreme Dalek asked.

"I don't know." The Doctor promised helplessly.

"Explain! Explain! Explain!" The Supreme Dalek barked. Suddenly, a pilot's voice came over the radio.

"Danny Boy to the Doctor! Danny Boy to the Doctor! Are you receiving me? Over."

"Oh, Winston! You beauty!" The Doctor laughed, looking up. Marianne did the same. The RAF had sent fighter planes to attack the Dalek ship.

"Danny Boy to the Doctor! Come in!" The Pilot exclaimed.

"Loud and clear, Danny Boy! Big dish, side of the ship, blow it up! Over!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Exterminate the Doctor and his Time Lady companion!" The Supreme Dalek exclaimed. The Doctor quickly grabbed Marianne's hand and they sprinted to the TARDIS to escape the Dalek death rays.

They shut the doors.

"Danny Boy to the Doctor. Only me left now." The Pilot said a few minutes later. Marianne closed her eyes and the Doctor took hold of a small microphone and spoke into it.

"The Doctor to Danny Boy... I can disrupt the Dalek shields, but not for long. Over." He said.

"Good show, Doctor. Go to it. Over." The Pilot replied. The Doctor started the TARDIS, as did Marianne. They both frantically worked the controls, desperately working to help 'Danny Boy.'

"Direct hit, sir!" Danny Boy exclaimed moments later. London had been switched off. "Going in for another attack." He said.

"Destroy this ship! Over." Marianne said into the microphone, before sheepishly giving it back to the Doctor and grinning. He kissed her cheek and his hand lingered on her arm. He clearly still felt immensely guilty about pushing her.

"What about you?" The Pilot's voice came over the radio.

"We'll be OK." The Doctor replied, smiling at Marianne. The Supreme Dalek suddenly appeared on the TARDIS monitor

"Doctor! Call off your attack!" He demanded.

"Aha, what? And let you scuttle off back to the future? No fear. This is the end for you. The final end!" The Doctor shouted, triumphantly.

"Call of the attack, or we will destroy Earth." The Supreme Dalek promised.

"I'm not stupid, mate! You've just played your last card!" The Doctor replied.

"Bracewell is a bomb." The Supreme Dalek said. Marianne closed her eyes.

"You're bluffing." She said quietly. "Deception's second nature to you. There isn't a sincere part of you." She said, opening her eyes again.

"His power is derived from an Oblivion Continuum. Call off your attack, or we will detonate the android." The Supreme Dalek promised.

"No! This is the best chance ever! The last of the Daleks! I can rid the Universe of you, once and for all!" He insisted.

"Then do it. But we will shatter the planet below. The Earth will die screaming!" The Supreme Dalek chided.

"And if I let you go, you'll be stronger than ever. A new race of Daleks." The Doctor hissed.

"Then choose, Time Lords! Destroy the Daleks or save the Earth. Begin countdown of Oblivion Continuum! Choose!" The Supreme Dalek exclaimed.

"Withdraw." Marianne said down the microphone, stealing it from the Doctor.

"Say again, miss." The Pilot asked.

"Withdraw! Return to Earth!" She shouted.

"But miss...!" The Pilot refuted.

"There's no time. You have to return now!" Marianne insisted. The Doctor, thankfully agreeing with what she was doing, had begun setting coordinates for Earth. For a moment, Marianne had thought he'd sacrifice Earth for the Daleks.

The TARDIS materialised on Earth and they both sprinted from the ship and into the Cabinet War Rooms. He ran into the Map Room and punched Bracewell in the face, knocking him to the ground.

"So strong." Marianne whispered behind him. (The second time in her whole life she'd done so.) The Doctor shook his hand in pain and went to Marianne for comfort. She kissed his knuckles and smirked at him.

"Doctor!" Amy exclaimed, shocked.

"Sorry Professor. You're a bomb! An inconceivably massive, Scottish Dalek bomb." Marianne explained, holding the Doctor's hurting hand.

"What?" Bracewell asked.

"There's an Oblivion Continuum inside you. A captured wormhole that provides perpetual power. Detonate that, and the Earth will bleed through into another dimension!" The Doctor explained, kneeling down beside him and undoing his shirt. He pulled out his sonic. "Now keep down!" He exclaimed, using the screwdriver to reveal mechanics under his shirt.

There was a circular pad divided into two glowing sections on his chest. One section glowed yellow.

"Well?" Amy asked.

"I dunno, I dunno!" The Doctor exclaimed, shaking the sonic with frustration. "Never seen one close up before!"

"So, what, they've wired him up to detonate?" Amy asked.

"Not wired him up. He is a bomb!" Marianne explained. "Walking, talking, exploding! The moment that flashes red." She said, pointing to his chest.

"There's a blue wire you have to cut, isn't there? There's always a blue wire." Amy insisted. The Doctor stood. "Or a red one." She corrected.

"You're not helping!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"It's incredible. He talked to us about his memories. The Great War..." Churchill trailed.

"Someone else's stolen thoughts, implanted in a positronic brain." The Doctor said. Marianne knelt down.

"Bracewell! Tell me about your life!" She exclaimed.

"Marianne, I really don't think now is the time!" Bracewell exclaimed, terrified.

"Prove to me that you're human. Tell me everything." She asked, eyes wide. One section of his chest was red and the other was yello.

"My family ran the Post Office. It's a little place just near the abbey. Just by the ash trees. There used to be eight trees but... but there was a storm." Bracewell trailed.

"And your parents? Come on! Tell me everything!" Marianne exclaimed.

"Good people. Kind people. They died. Scarlet fever." Bracewell struggled.

"What was that like? How did that feel?" Marianne asked.

"Please..." Bracewell begged.

"How did it make you feel?! Tell me!" Marianne demanded.

"It hurt. It hurts, Marianne, so badly. Like a wound." He explained. The second section turned red, and the third turned yellow. "It was worse than a wound. Like I'd been emptied out. There was nothing." He cried.

"Good. Remember it now! The ash trees by the Post Office and your mum and dad losing them and the men in the trenches you saw die. Remember it! Feel it, because you're human." Marianne insisted. The third section turned red. "You're not like them. You are not like the Daleks!" She promised.

"She's so much more human than me." The Doctor said quietly to nobody in particular, but Amy smiled to herself.

"It hurts, Marianne, it hurts too much!" Bracewell exclaimed.

"Embrace it." Marianne told him. "That means you're alive! They cannot explode that bomb because you're a human being. You are flesh and blood! They cannot explode you! Believe it! You are Professor Edwin Bracewell." The fifth section turned red. Marianne turned to Amy. "Help." She asked. Amy knelt down.

"Hey... Paisley. Ever fancied someone you know you shouldn't?" Amy smirked. Marianne grinned at her and put an arm around her, hugging her for a moment before letting go.

"What?" Bracewell asked.

"Hurts, doesn't it?" Amy asked. The last section remained yellow. "But kind of a good hurt." Amy nodded, knowingly.

"I really shouldn't talk about her." Bracewell smiled.

"Oh. There's a her." Marianne said, winking. The last section turned blue.

"What was her name?" The Doctor asked.

"Dorabella." Bracewell replied.

"Dorabella? It's a lovely name. A beautiful name." The Doctor smiled, also kneeling down.

"What was she like, Edwin?" Amy asked.

"Oh. Such a smile." Bracewell said dreamily. Amy noted that the Doctor was gazing at Marianne. "And her eyes... Her eyes were so blue. Almost violet. Like the last touch of sunset on the edge of the world. Dorabella." He sighed, and all the sections turned blue, disarming the bomb. The Doctor kissed Marianne's check and she leaned into him.

"Welcome to the human race." Marianne smiled gently at Bracewell.

"You're brilliant." The Doctor told Amy. "You're brilliant." He told Churchill. "You're brilliant." He told Bracewell. "And you..." He trailed, kissing the top of her head and standing up. "Now, gotta stop them! Stop the Daleks!" He exclaimed, pulling his girls up and running out of the room.

"Wait! Doctor! It's too late." Bracewell sat up, staring at the Doctor who'd stopped running. "Gone. They've gone."

"No, they can't! They can't have got away from me again!" He exclaimed, angrily.

"No. I can feel it. My mind is clear. The Daleks have gone." Bracewell said sadly. The Doctor leaned against a pole, all energy gone. Marianne stood in front of him and took hold of his belt loop holes.

"It's Ok. You did it. You stopped the bomb." Amy assured him.

"I had a choice. And they knew we'd choose the Earth." He looked down at Mari. "The Daleks have won. They beat us. They won." He moaned.

"But you saved the Earth. Not too shabby, is it...?" Amy asked, eyes wide. All eyes in the room were looking at the Time Lords with support.

"No." He smiled, taking Marianne's hand and turning them around. "Not too shabby." He agreed.

"It's a brilliant achievement, my dear friend. Here, have a cigar!" Churchill exclaimed.

"No." The Doctor waved the cigar off.

"So what now then?" Amy asked everyone.

"I still have a war to run, Miss Pond." Churchill smiled at her.

"Prime Minister." A woman handed him a document. He scanned it.

"Oh, thank you." He said. "They hit the Palace and St Paul's again. Fire crews only just saved it." He sighed angrily. Breen suddenly entered, crying.

"Is she OK?" Amy asked.

"What?" Churchill asked.

"She looks upset." Marianne agreed.

"Oh, Miss Breen? Her young man didn't make it, I'm afraid. Just got word. Shot down over the channel." Churchill said sadly. Marianne looked at the girl.

"Where's the Doctor?" Amy asked Marianne.

"Tying up loose ends." Both Time Lords said at the same time as the Doctor entered the room.

"I've taken out all the alien tech Bracewell put in." He continued.

"Won't you reconsider, Doctor? Those Spitfires would win me the war in 24 hours!" Churchill begged.

"Exactly." Marianne smirked, sipping her tea.

"But why not? Why can't we put an end to all this misery?" Churchill asked.

"Oh, it does't work like that, Winston. It's gonna be tough. There are terrible days to come. The darkest days. But you can do it. You know you can." Churchill said.

"Stay with us, and help us win through! The world needs both you and Miss Marianne." Churchill pleaded.

"The world doesn't need us." The Doctor insisted.

"No?" Winston asked.

"The world's got Winston Spencer Churchill." Marianne grinned, and both she and the Doctor made the Victory sign. Amy laughed. Dorks.

"It's been a pleasure, as always." Churchill nodded.

"Too right." The Doctor agreed, hugging Churchill. He then took Marianne's hand and kissed it, before she shoved him away and attacked him with a bear hug.

"The best of luck." She whispered.

"Goodbye, Miss Pond." He said, turning to Amy.

"It's been... Amazing. Meeting you." Amy nodded, still starstruck.

"I'm sure it has!" He laughed, as Amy kissed his cheek. Churchill headed out the door.

"Oi, Churchill!" Amy shouted, holding out her hand. "TARDIS key. The one you just took from Marianne." She demanded. Marianne patted her pockets, looking angry.

"Oh, she's good, Doctor. As sharp as a pin!" He laughed, handing her the key. "Almost as sharp as me! KBO!" He cheered, lighting his cigar.

Churchill left and Marianne held her key out, and Amy slapped the key into her palm.

The trio walked into Bracewell's lab, where he had a leather glove over his stump.

"I've been expecting you. I knew this moment had to come." Bracewell sighed.

"Moment?" The Doctor frowned.

"It's time to de-activate me." Edwin nodded. "You have no choice. I'm Dalek technology. Can't allow me to go pottering around down here where I have no business." He insisted.

"No. You're dead right, Professor. 100% right. And by the time we get back here in... What? Ten minutes?" Marianne turned to Amy.

"More like 15." Amy corrected.

"15 minutes, that's exactly what we'll do. You are going to be so de-activated." Marianne nodded.

"It's going to be like you've never ever been... Activated." The Doctor stumbled over his words.

"Yeah!" Amy exclaimed.

Dorks.

"15 minutes?" Bracewell asked.

"More like 20, if I'm honest. Once Mari, Pond and I see to the urgent thing..." The Doctor trailed.

"Yes!" Amy and Marianne excliamed.

"Very, well, Doctor. I shall wait here and prepare myself." Bracewell nodded bravely.

"That thing we've gotta do. Gonna take half an hour, realistically, isn't it?" Amy asked.

"Easily! So no running off, that's what I'm saying." The Doctor winked.

"Don't go trying to find that little Post Office with the ash trees, or Dorabella." Marianne added.

"On no account go looking for her. Mind you, you can get a lot done in half an hour." The Doctor said. He was a little slow on the uptake, was Edwin. He finally laughed, however, when he realised what they were doing.

"Thank you!" He exclaimed.

"Come along, Pond!" The Doctor shouted, taking Mari's hand. The trio walked into the TARDIS and Bracewell began to pack a suitcase.

Once inside the TARDIS, Amy turned to them both immediately.

"So, you have enemies then?" Amy asked.

"Everyone's got enemies." The Doctor nodded.

"Yeah, but mine's the woman outside Budgens with the mental Jack Russell." Amy said, and Marianne laughed. "You've got, like, you know, arch enemies." They all leaned against the console.

"Suppose so." The Doctor nodded.

"And here's me thinking we'd just be running through time, being daft and fixing stuff. But no, it's dangerous." Amy said.

"Spectacular mistake." Marianne laughed. The Doctor looked at her sideways and smiled.

"I'm still here, aren't I? You're worried about the Daleks." Amy claimed.

"We're always worried about the Daleks." The Doctor said, looking at the floor with an amused smile on his face.

"It'll take time though, won't it? There's still not many of them. They'll need a while to build themselves up." Amy nodded.

"It's not that." The Doctor sighed. "There's something else. Something we've forgotten. Or rather you have."

"Me?" Amy asked.

"You didn't know them, Amelia. You'd never seen them before. And you should have done. You should." Marianne nodded. The Doctor nodded too and began plotting their next coordinates.

Amy simply looked confused at them.

_"Let us go forward together." -Winston Churchill._

More Marianne/Doctor fluff in the next chapter! -Fay x


	11. Interlude

The way she slept, the way she looked, the way she brushed his ridiculous comments off without a further thought. The way she looked when she laughed, the way she looked when she cried. How much she loved life, and art, and beauty. Her passion, her fury, her rage. Her intense emotional capacity. The smell of her hair, the smell of her skin, the violet blue colour of her eyes. The way she sang in the shower when she thought nobody was listening. The way she sympathised with hostile aliens, but also wanted to save the world. Her quick wit, her sarcasm, her biting remarks. How she loved him.

The Doctor could have gone on with his list of why he loved Marianne for hours, but one little thing was sticking in his mind. **How she looked at him when he regenerated. ****_The same as before._**

She never changed. She hadn't changed, even with time and even with regeneration. He had. He was a coward. Although he supposed he was a coward before Marianne was back in his life. He'd always been running from something. The Time War, Marianne, his future, his past, his present. Maybe it was time to stop running. Or maybe it was time to teach Marianne how to run.

"It's quite simple really." The Doctor told her. "You think about everything wrong about your life, and you don't face up to it." He told her sarcastically, pretending to give her advice. They were led in bed, not that they needed much sleep.

They were both staring up at the ceiling, giggling to themselves and talking about nothing in particular.

"There isn't much wrong in your life." Marianne tried to remind him. Always so down on himself. He turned to her and cocked an eyebrow.

"Suppose not." He agreed. "But what ever is wrong, is really wrong. So wrong I run away all the time." He shrugged.

"I can't believe you're wearing a bow tie in bed." She changed the subject, rolling her eyes at him.

"You said bow ties are cool." He defended, tugging on it. "I thought you like them. I thought you might find me _sexy_ in a bow tie in bed." He joked, wiggling his eyebrows and winking at her.

"Sometimes you really turn me off." She said, laughing at him and hitting his chest. He grabbed her arm and kissed the back of her hand.

"Really?" He asked, looking up at her before tickling her.

"Oh my **God! **Get off me!" She shrieked, laughing and kicking him to get off her.

"Not until you tell me something." He said, tickling her harder.

"What?!" She asked.

"That my bow tie's sexy." He whispered, his mouth a centimetre from hers. He then kissed her quickly, before getting back to tickling her.

"I'm not saying it." She insisted, glaring at him and kneeling on the bed to get away from his hands.

He cocked his head at her and a slow smirk spread on his face.

"If I don't marry you soon I think I'll spontaneously combust." He promised, and turned the light off next to their bed. He sunk back into the sheets and smiled when he noticed that she was staring at him.

"I love you but you drive me mad." She said, also sinking into the sheets, staring up at the ceiling once more. "What, you just want to go to Vegas and get married?" She asked, deadly serious.

The Doctor was confused. Did she want to do that or was she being sarcastic?

"It wouldn't matter where." He said.

"Well, we wouldn't want you to spontaneously combust, would we?" She asked sarcastically. He laughed and turned over so he was facing her once more. He kissed her cheek.

"That was an exaggeration. I don't _really _ think I'll burst." He smirked. Marianne glared at him.

"I know that! I'm not stupid." She said, but his expression soon turned her frown into a grin.

"Vegas?" He asked. She nodded. "Tomorrow?" He then asked.

"Whenever tomorrow is." She smiled shyly. He kissed her nose and they soon fell asleep in each others arms.


	12. Chapter 11

The Doctor, Marianne and Amy all waltzed through the empty museum as if they owned the place. The Doctor was particularly having fun, pointing at artefact's and chuckling to himself.

"Wrong! Wrong! Bit right, mostly wrong. I love museums." The Doctor grinned. Marianne was also enjoying herself, but the thought that Amy might be incredibly bored was grating on her mind.

"Yeah, great. Can we go to a planet, now? Big spaceship, Churchill's bunker...? You promised me a planet next." Amy reasoned.

"Amy, this isn't any old asteroid. It's the Delirium Archive, final resting place of the headless monks, the biggest museum ever." The Doctor stressed passionately.

"You've got a time machine, what do you need museums for?" Amy asked, frowning.

"He likes to insult other species- yeah, he also likes to laugh at historians." Marianne said fondly, desperately wanting to join in.

"You do too." The Doctor defended.

"I know!" Marianne said, finally bounding over to a display cabinet. "Wrong! Very wrong!" She laughed. "One of ours!" She exclaimed happily.

"Oh, I see. You both like to keep score." Amy nodded. Something in the next display cabinet caught Marianne's eye and she froze. It was an antique box, worn and damaged. She looked at the odd symbols covering it with intrigue.

"Oh great, an old box." Amy sighed.

"It's from one of the old starliners. A Home Box." Marianne said, and the Doctor joined the girls.

"What's a Home Box?" Amy asked.

"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes. Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home, with all the flight data." The Doctor explained.

"So?" Amy asked.

"The writing. The grafitti on it. It's Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords." Marianne frowned, her hands resting on the glass case as if she desperatley wanted to touch it.

"There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple Gods." The Doctor mused.

"What does it say?" Amy breathed.

"Hello, sweeties." Marianne said, confused.. The Doctor looked after her.

The Doctor smashed the display glass, snatched the box and began running. Amy had no choice but to follow, and Marianne when they caught up to her.

They rushed into the TARDIS as two security guards chased them.

Marianne shut and locked the doors while the Doctor plugged the Home Box into the console.

"Why are we doing this?" Amy asked.

"Cos someone on a spaceship 1200 years ago is trying to attract our attention. Let's see if we can get the security playback working." The Doctor said, pulling up grainy black and white footage of River Song winking at the camera appeared on the monitor.

Marianne sulked and turned away.

"The party's over, Doctor Song, yet you're still on board." A man said from the footage. River turned to face the man.

"Sorry, Alistair." River smirked. "I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down here? Any of you? I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach it's destination." River claimed.

"Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution." Allistair instructed.

"Triple seven, five slash, three, four, nine by ten." River said, looking at her wrist watch. The trio exchanged a look. "Zero, twelve slash acorn." She concluded. "Oh, and I could do with an air corridor."

The Doctor began to type on the keyboard.

"What was that, what did she say?" Amy asked.

"Co-orindates." Marianne sighed. "We're picking her up." She groaned.

"Like I said on the dance floor, you might want something to hang on to!" River exclaimed from the footage. They watched as a timer bleeped furiously, and Alistair looked panicked. He grabbed onto a pipe stuck on the wall upon realising what was about to happen. River blew them a kiss before the doors behind her blew open and she fell into space- and directly in the TARDIS behind her.

The Doctor whooped before slamming the doors shut.

"Doctor?" Amy asked, confused as to why the curly haired woman was staring around the TARDIS. Marianne looked like she was sulking. The woman who knew her name.

"River?" The Doctor asked.

"Follow that ship." River ordered, glaring after it on the screen. The Doctor plugged in the co-ordinates and they did as River said. Marianne helped too, as did River. She was barefoot.

"They've gone into warp drive, we're losing them. Stay close!" River exclaimed.

"We're trying!" The Doctor refuted angrily, knowing Marianne would get irate any second.

"Use the stabilisers." River said calmly.

"There aren't any stabilisers!" Marianne exclaimed. There. Irate Marianne.

"The blue switches!" River shouted back.

"The blue ones don't do anything... They're just blue." The Doctor defended his Marianne.

"Yes, they're blue. They're the blue stabilisers!" River exclaimed. The ship became quiet as she used them. "See?" She asked.

"Yeah, well, it's just boring now." Marianne insisted, jealous and horrible. "They're boring-ers. They're blue boring-ers." She said. The Doctor smirked and kissed her cheek.

"Um, how can she fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked, still confused.

"You call that flying the TARDIS? Ha!" Marianne exclaimed, sitting on the jump seat with the Doctor.

"OK, I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and parked us right along side." River smirked, knowingly.

"Parked us? We haven't landed." The Doctor frowned.

"Of course we've landed. I just landed her." River nodded.

"But it didn't make the noise." The Doctor refuted, and Marianne nodded in agreement.

"What noise?" River demanded.

"You know, the..." He trailed, before doing a bad imitation of the TARDIS wheezing sound.

"It's not supposed to make that noise. You leave the brakes on." River smirked, turning around and leaning against the console.

"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise. We love that noise. Come along, Pond. Let's have a look." The Doctor said, pulling Marianne up and leading Amy to the door.

"Wait! Environment check!" River exclaimed after them.

"Oh, yes, sorry! Environment checks." The Doctor said, sticking his head out of the door. "Nice out." He nodded. Marianne laughed and Amy rolled her eyes.

"We're somewhere in the Garn belt. There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest..." River began rambling, reading from her wrist device.

"We're on Alfava Mexatris, the seventh planet in the Dundra System. Oxygen rich atmosphere, toxins in the soft band, 11 hour day and chances of rain later." Marianne said, staring River square in the eye. Time Lady for the win.

"She thinks she's hot when she does that." River told Amy, and Marianne glared further at the woman.

"She is hot when she does that!" The Doctor blurted before seemingly realising. Marianne didn't mind, she simply raised an eyebrow at River.

"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked River curiously.

"Oh, I had lessons from the very best." River nodded, smiling.

"Well, yeah." The Doctor said smugly.

"It's a shame you were busy that day." River said quickly, picking up her shoes and slipping them on. "Right then, why did they land here?" She asked, heading for the door.

"They didn't land." The Doctor told her.

"Sorry?" River asked.

"You should've checked the Home Box. It crashed." The Doctor corrected. River stepped outside and the Doctor closed the door behind her before heading to the console. Marianne smiled.

"Explain!" Amy demanded. "Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?" She asked.

"It's a long story and I don't know most of it." The Doctor said, working the controls.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked.

"Amelia, we're leaving. She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go." Marianne explained.

"Are you basically running away?" Amy questioned, raising an eyebrow.

"Yep." The Doctor nodded.

"Why?" Amy then asked.

"Because she's the future. Our future." The Doctor tried to explain.

"Can you run away from that?" Amy frowned, joining him at the console and leaning against it as River had done.

"We can run away from anything we like. Time is nothing to us." Marianne shrugged, sitting on the jump seat and stretching her legs out, feeling more relaxed as River had gone.

"Hang on, is that a planet out there?" Amy asked, eyebrows raised as she looked at the TARDIS doors.

"Yes, of course it's a planet." The Doctor muttered, distractedly.

"You promised me a planet. Five minutes?" Amy almost begged.

"OK, five minutes." The Doctor gave in, aware of Marianne's sigh behind him.

"Yes!" Amy whooped, heading for the door.

"But that's all, 'cause I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging us into anything!" The Doctor insisted, following Amy to the door. He turned back for Marianne and had to go back to physically drag her outside.

The ship they had been following was very large and had crashed on top of a big stone structure. It was burning in areas and bits of debris had fallen to the ground. The four of them stood there, looking up at it.

"What caused it to crash?" River asked. "Not me." She said.

"Nah, the airlock would've sealed seconds after you blew it. According to the Home Box, the warp engine had a phase shift. No survivors." The Doctor explained, taking his tweed jacket from his shoulders and wrapping it around Marianne's as she looked cold in the harsh winds. She smiled her thanks and slipped it on, the arms falling way past her hands. "So small." The Doctor whispered to her, teasingly.

River and Amy both rolled their eyes and looked away from their public display of affection.

"A phase-shift would have to be sabotage. I did warn them." River insisted.

"About what?" Mari asked.

"Well, at least the building is empty. Aplan temple. Unoccupied for centuries." River explained, keying something into her device.

"Are you going to introduce us?" Amy demanded.

"Amy Pond, Professor River Song." The Doctor obliged.

"Ahhh, I'm going to be a Professor some day, am I?" River turned to them, grinning manically. The Doctor winced. "How exciting! Spoilers!"

"Yeah, but who is she and how did she do that?" Amy whispered. "She just left you a note in a museum!"

The Doctor walked off. Amy turned to Marianne, who also awkwardly walked off.

"Two things always guaranteed to show up in a museum. The Home Box of category four starliner, and sooner or later, those two. It's how they keep score." River explained.

"I know." Amy laughed.

"It's hilarious, isn't it?" River smirked. The Doctor sarcastically laughed while Marianne was looking at the inscription on River's device. _''With love- J'_

Marianne assumed that she'd stolen it.

"We're not a taxi service! I'm not gonna be there to catch you every time you feel like jumping out of a spaceship." He insisted.

"And you are so wrong. There's one survivor. There's a thing in the belly of that ship that can't ever die. Now they're listening!" River exclaimed, smug. She spoke into her device. "You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal." She held up her device. "Will one of you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon." She explained.

The Doctor begrudgingly scanned her device.

"We have a minute. Shall we?" River asked, opening her diary and turning to them both, after putting her device down. "Where were we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?" She asked.

"What's the book?" Amy asked.

"Stay away from it." Marianne said, glaring at it.

"What is it though?" Amy asked, smiling.

"Her diary." Marianne said.

"Our diary." River amended.

"Her past, our future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order." The Doctor explained. Four pillars of swirling dust appeared, and four soldiers arrived on the scene. One of them walked over to River.

"You promised me an army, Doctor Song." The man snapped, glaring at her.

"No. I promised you the equivalent of an army. This is the Doctor, and this is Marianne." River introduced, and the Doctor gave a faint salute while Marianne watched River intently.

"Father Octavian, sir. Madam." Father Octavian said to them both, shaking their hands. "Bishop, second class. 20 clerics at my command. The troops are ready in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?" He asked intently.

"Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?" River asked nonchalantly. Marianne winced, and the Doctor tensed.

A transport ship had landed and more soldiers had set up their base camp. Octavian led the Doctor, Marianne and Amy across the night-lit beach.

"The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship. Our mission is to get inside and neutralise it. We can't get through up top, we'd be too close to the drives. According to this, behind the cliff face, there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up." Octavian explained tersely.

"Oh, good." Marianne said sarcastically. Amy frowned, not really understanding who or what a Weeping Angel was.

"Good, Madam?" Octavian also frowned.

"Catacombs. Probably incredibly dark. Dark catacombs. Wonderful." She snapped.

"Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead." Octavian added, eyebrows raised.

"You can stop at any time you like." The Doctor stressed. Octavian winced.

"Father Octavian?" A solider asked. Octavian nodded his excuse and followed the soldier away from the time travellers. The Doctor waved Octavian off.

He then used his sonic on some of the equipment on the table set out.

"You're letting people call you 'sir' and 'madam.' You never do that." Amy noted, sitting on the table. "So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?" Amy asked, frowning against the sun.

"Now that's interesting..." The Doctor trailed. "You're still here. Which part of 'Wait in the TARDIS till I tell you it's safe' was so confusing?" He asked, looking up at her.

"I think someone's Mr Grumpy Face today." Amy said, mimicking his face. Marianne faintly smiled.

"A Weeping Angel, Amelia, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form evolution has ever produced. And to top this off, one is trapped inside that building and they want us to climb inside with a couple of screwdrivers and a torch- and assuming we survive the radiation, and the whole thing doesn't blow up in our faces- do something rather clever that we haven't thought of yet." Marianne ranted gently, before looking up at Amy's somewhat scared face.

"That's our day, that's what we're up to. Any questions?" The Doctor concluded.

"Is River Song your future wife or something?" Amy asked. Marianne froze and glared at the table. "Cos she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone do that. Apart from Marianne, obviously. Is she gonna be your wife one day? Is that why Marianne hates her?" Amy asked.

"That woman will never be my wife." The Doctor spat. "Where did you even get that from?" He winced. "Yes, you're right. I am definitely Mr Grumpy Face today." He frowned. Marianne glared at him. He shrugged helplessly.

"Doctor?" River called from the transport base. "Marianne! Father Octavian!" She then shouted. The four of them traipsed into the transport.

"Why do they call him Father?" Amy asked, tilting her eyes left to look at them both.

"He's their Bishop, they're his clerics. It's the 51st Century, the Church has moved on." Marianne explained quickly.

River was watching footage of the lone Weeping Angel, it's body at an angle, hands over the eyes.

"What do you think?" She asked, not tearing her eyes from it. "It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's four seconds. I've put it on loop." She explained.

"Yeah, it's an Angel. Hands covering its face." The Doctor agreed, his hand casually grasping Marianne's as they watched.

"You've encountered the Angels before?" Octavian asked. Marianne nodded.

"Once, on Earth a long time ago. But they were scavengers. Barely surviving." She replied.

"It's just a statue." Amy said, looking at them as if they were stupid.

"It's a statue when you see it." River told her patiently.

"Where did you find it?" The Doctor asked, looking worried.

"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since, dormant all that time." River shrugged.

"There's a difference between dormant and patient." Marianne quipped, glancing at River who seemed to smile to herself at the glare.

"What's that mean, it's a statue when you see it?" Amy demanded, wanting to know what the fuss was about. The video on screen continuously crackled and fizzed against the screen, the image never changing and never moving. The lone warrior trapped in a fortress of death.

"The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen." Marianne explained.

"So legend has it." River added. Marianne frowned and cocked her head.

"It's not legend. It's a quantum lock. In the sight of any living creature, the Angels literally cease to exist. They're just stone." Marianne told her, and River looked at the ground, humor gone from her face.

"The ultimate defence mechanism." The Doctor concluded.

"What, being a stone?" Amy frowned.

"Being a stone... Until you turn your back." He nodded worriedly. He led them all out of the transport.

"The hyper-drive would've split on impact. The whole ship will be flooded with radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms, deadly to almost any living thing." The Doctor explained as they walked.

"Deadly to an angel?" Octavian asked.

"Dinner to an Angel." Marianne replied. "The longer we leave it, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple? They still around?" She asked.

"The Aplans." River said, reading from her device. "The indigenous life form. They died out 400 years ago."

"200 years later, the planet was terraformed. Currently there are six billion human colonists." Octavian explained.

"You lot, you're everywhere!" The Doctor complained. "Like rabbits! We'll never get done saving you."

"Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the local population..." Octavian began.

"Oh, there is. As bad as it gets." Marianne said, nodding.

"Verger, how we doing with those explosives? Dr Song, with me." Octavian ordered.

"Two minutes. Sweet, I need you." River said nonchalantly.

"Sweet?" The Doctor mouthed, before realising she was on about him and begrudgingly walked over.

"Not you. Marianne." River swatted him away. Marianne sighed and walked over to the woman.

"Anybody need me? Nobody?" Amy demanded, obviously fed up. She crossed her arms and leaned against the wall. She turned to the right and noticed something on the screen showing the image of the Weeping Angel. She walked slowly over to it, noticing that the image had changed. The Angel had moved, and its hands were no longer covering its face.

Meanwhile, River was showing Marianne a book. "I found this. Definitive work on the Angels. Well, the only one. Written by a madwoman. It's barely readable, but I've marked a few passages." She explained. Marianne finished it.

"Not bad, bit slow. Didn't you hate the boyfriend?" She asked. "No, hang on. Wait!" She exclaimed, smelling the book.

"Dr Song? Did you have more than one clip of the angel?" Amy popped her head around the door, from the transport.

"No, just the four seconds." River called back. Amy frowned and walked back inside.

"This book is wrong! What's wrong with this book, it's wrong." Marianne snapped, staring at it intently. She threw it at the Doctor. "What's wrong with it?!" She asked.

"Oh, now you need me..." He trailed, also reading it.

Meanwhile, Amy was engrossed in the footage. It was exactly the same timings as before, only the Angel had turned. So fixated on the footage was she that she didn't even notice that the door closed and locked behind her.

"Oh, you've got your baby-face." Marianne quipped as the Doctor examined it, she had a sweet expression on her face too. She was looking at him endearingly.

"How early is this for you? Marianne's all suspicious and jealous. You've just started thinking I'm going to steal Marianne from you. You don't know, do you?" River asked, teasing them slightly.

"Very early. Know what?" The Doctor asked, embarrassed that Marianne knew what he'd been thinking.

"So you don't even know who I am yet?" River asked.

"How do you know who we are? We don't always look the same." The Doctor asked.

"I've got pictures of all your faces. Both of you. You never show up in the right order, though. I need the spotter's guide." River smiled.

"Pictures? Why aren't there pictures?!" Marianne asked, snatching the book and flicking through again.

In the transport, Amy picked up the remote and tried to turn the screen off but it kept coming back on. She put the remote down and peered at the screen.

"You're just a recording. You can't move." She claimed. She looked away to unplug the power source, but when she looked back, and Angel had moved even closer to the camera. She jumped and backed away to the door.

"Doctor! Marianne!" She yelled, trying the door whilst staring with wide eyes at the Angel. The door was locked. "Marianne!" She screeched.

"This whole book, it's a warning. About the Weeping Angels. So why no pictures? Why not show us what to look out for?" Marianne asked.

"There was a bit about images." River reminded her.

"Yes! Hang on..." The Doctor said, grabbing the book and scanning through. "'That which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel.'" He quoted.

"What does that mean? 'An image of an angel becomes itself an angel?" River asked.

Amy looked to see the image of the Angel on screen become solid in the centre of the room.

"It's in the room!" She yelled, terrified.

"Amelia!" Marianne suddenly realised, throwing the book to the ground and taking off. River picked it up before following the Doctor who'd also started to run.

"Doctor!" Amy yelled, punching the key pad desperately.

"Are you all right? What's happening?" Marianne asked, pressed against the locked door.

"It's coming out of the television!" Amy exclaimed breathlessly on the other side of it. "The Angel is here."

"Don't take your eyes off it!" The Doctor warned, getting his sonic out and using it on the keypad. "It can't move if you're looking. It's deadlocked!" He hissed as the door refused to unlock.

"There is no deadlock." River said, trying to override the controls.

"Don't blink, Amelia, don't even blink!" Marianne warned.

"Mari!" Amy yelled, as the Angel became more and more solid and opaque.

"What are you doing?" River asked her, as Mari fiddled with her own sonic.

"Cutting the power." She explained. "It's using the screen. I'm turning the screen off It's no good, it's deadlocked the whole system." She hissed.

"There's no deadlock." River insisted.

"There is now!" Marianne yelled.

"Help me!" Amy shouted.

"Amy! Can you turn it off?!" The Doctor called. "The screen- can you turn it off?!" He asked.

"I tried." Amy breathed.

"Try again but don't take your eyes off the Angel." The Doctor ordered.

"I'm not!" Amy yelled frustratedly.

"Each time it moves, it'll move faster. Don't even blink." Marianne cautioned.

"I'm not blinking! Have you ever tried not blinking?!" Amy yelled, resorting to winking instead. She fumbled for the remote whilst never taking her eyes from the Angel. She grabbed it and backed away to the door and tried to switch it off. It turned itself back on.

"It just keeps switching back on!" Amy yelled.

"Yeah, it's the Angel." The Doctor explained.

"But it's just a recording." Amy insisted.

"No, anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel." Marianne explained, pushing the curls from her face as she tried to think.

"What are you doing?" The Doctor demanded, looking at River.

"I'm trying to cut through." River explained, using a small blow torch on the door. "It's not even warm." She complained.

"There is no way in, it's not physically possible." The Doctor told her.]

"Doctor! What's it gonna do to me?" Amy called.

"Just keep looking at it. Don't stop looking!" The Doctor yelled.

"Mari, tell me." Amy asked. "Just tell me. Tell me!"

The Doctor snatched the book from River and sat, reading it once more.

"Amy, not the eyes." He said gently. "Look anywhere but don't look at the eyes." He ordered.

"Why?" Amy asked, looking straight into it's eyes.

"What is it?" Marianne asked.

"The eyes are not the windows of the soul, but they are the doors. Beware what may enter there." He read.

"Doctor, what did you say?" Amy called.

"Don't look at the eyes!" Marianne exclaimed, urgently.

"No, about images, what did you say about images?" Amy asked, frowning.

"Whatever holds the image of an angel, is an angel." River quoted, waiting anxiously for the reply.

"OK... Hold this." Amy said to herself. She held out the remote. "One, two, three four..." She hit the pause button while there was static. The image of the Angel froze before turning off, and the door opened. Marianne burst through, the consequence of leaning on the door. She immediately unplugged the screen.

"I froze it!" Amy exclaimed. "There was a sort of blip on the tape and I froze it on the blip. It wasn't the image of an angel anymore. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good." Amy grinned, pleased with herself.

"That was amazing!" River laughed.

"Mari, hug Amy." The Doctor ordered.

"Why?" Marianne asked.

"'Cause I'm busy." The Doctor quipped. Marianne grinned and the two girls hugged tightly, Amy just glad to see human skin instead of stone.

"So it was here? That was the Angel?" River asked when the girls put each other down.

"That was a projection of an Angel. It's reaching out, getting a good look at us. It's no longer dormant." The Doctor explained.


	13. Chapter 12

Near the small group, an explosion was set off by the soldiers, and they could feel it from the feeble ship they were stood in.

"It's gone positive!" A nearby soldier roared to Father Octavian.

"Doctor! We're through!" Octavian exclaimed, somewhat manically. The Doctor turned to the girls.

"Okay. Now it starts." He sighed, grabbing Marianne hand and marching her outside. River followed by Amy stayed, rubbing her eye intently.

"Coming?" River called back to her. Amy distractedly looked up.

"Yeah, coming. There's just... Something in my eye." She mumbled when she realised that no one was really listening. They were too bothered about that stone angel- and rightly so. It had scared her to Hell and back.

Meanwhile, the Doctor and Mari climbed down a rope ladder and joined Father Octavian at the bottom of the main chamber of the Maze of the Dead. They all turned on their torches and began to joined them. Amy and River soon joined them, along with a myriad of soldiers.

"Do we have a gravity globe?" Marianne asked, not liking the pitch darkness, despite the thin beam of light emanating from their torches.

"Grav globe." Octavian ordered, and a solider took out the glove from his pack and handed it to his boss.

"Where are we?" Amy asked. "What is this place?" She looked around the draughty place with a disgruntled look on her face.

"It's an Aplan moratorium. Sometimes called a Maze of the Dead." River explained.

"And what's that?" Amy blinked.

"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone..." The Doctor trailed, kicking the gravity glove like a football and allowing it to rise into the air and light up the cave, "The perfect hiding place."

The gravity globe had shown to the group that there were numerous stone statues all over the place.

"I guess this makes it a bit trickier." Octavian said.

"A bit, yeah." Marianne said sarcastically, gripping hold of her torch a tad tighter.

"A stone angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for." Octavian sighed, looking around with dismay.

"A needle in a haystack." River agreed.

"A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle." The Doctor said.

"Of death." Marianne added.

"A hay-like needle of death in a haystack, of, er statues." The Doctor said, gripping Marianne's hand tighter. "No, yours was fine." He told River.

"Right. Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection. One question, how do we fight it?" Octavian asked the Time Lords.

"We find it, and hope." Marianne shrugged helplessly. She and the Doctor abruptly walked off, and Amy followed.

The Doctor and Mari began shining their torches in every crevice, every crack of the Maze. Amy was gazing up at the many levels above them and the statues lining every single layer. She rubbed the corner of her eye with her finger and found a tiny little piece of grit. She then used her whole hand and a whole pile of sand and grit fell from her fingers. Scared, she stopped rubbing and looked at her hand. Nothing unusual there.

"You all right?" River asked, putting her hand on Amy's shoulder.

"Yeah, I'm fine." Amy said, pretending she wasn't going crazy. "So, what's a Maze of the Dead?" Amy asked, trying to avert the subject away from her.

"Oh, it's not as bad as it looks. It's just a labyrinth with dead people buried in the walls. Okay, that was fairly bad. Right, give me your arm." River said, holding out a syringe. "This won't hurt ab it." She lied, and gave Amy a shot.

"Ow!" Amy complained.

"There, you see. I lied. It's a viro-stabiliser. Stabilises your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship." River explained, trying to do nothing but protect her.

"So what're they like? In the future, I mean. Because you know them in the future, don't you?" Amy asked, rubbing her arm slightly. River looked in front of them to the couple holding hands.

Marianne had pulled his bow tie, and he was slapping her hand gently away. Her responding laugh resonated through the many corners of the Maze.

"The bow tie's cool!" The Doctor exclaimed. River smiled fondly, as did Amy.

"Well, the Doctor's the Doctor and Marianne's Marianne." River shrugged.

"Oh, well. That's very helpful." Amy sighed. "Mind if I write that down?" She asked sarcastically.

"Yes, we are." River called over to the suddenly silent couple in front.

"Sorry, what?" Mari called, as the Doctor took readings with River's device.

"Talking about you." River grinned.

"We weren't listening. We're busy!" The Doctor shot back.

"Busy. If that's what you call it." Amy called.

"And it's the other way up." River added, talking about the device that the Doctor was holding up side down.

Marianne slapped his chest gently. "Well done." She said. The Doctor rushed slightly to catch back up with her and took her hand again, and Amy and River could both see that he had his head turned toward her, grinning like a love-sick idiot.

"You're so his wife." Amy laughed, talking to River again.

"Oh, Amy. You think they're so easy to split up?" River snorted. "Just look at them. They're Bonded. Nothing can come between that. Not even themselves." She sighed wistfully.

Amy sighed, and River looked at her from the corner of her eye, ready to defend her favourite couple again if necessary.

They all came to a halt when they saw a new group of statues. They all examined them carefully with their torches, apart from Amy. They all stopped, however, when they heard rapid gunfire nearby. They sprinted back to the main chamber, to see what was happening. When they got there, a young cleric had shot one of the angelic statues. Mari and the Doctor stood on tip-toes to peer up at it.

"Sorry. Sorry, I thought, I thought looked at me." The cleric said, obviously shaken up slightly.

"We know what the Angel looks like. Is that the Angel?" Octavian demanded.

"No, sir." The cleric replied, looking embarrassed and terrified all at the same overwhelming time.

"No sir, it is not! According to the Doctor and Marianne, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil. So it would be good, it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of decor." Octavian lectured, and the Time Lords both frowned at the lecturer.

"What's your name?" The Doctor asked the scared young cleric.

"Bob, sir." Bob said.

"Ah, that's a great name. I love Bob." The Doctor grinned happily.

"It's a sacred name. We all have sacred names, they're given to us in the service of the Church." Octavian explained.

"Sacred Bob." Marianne smiled. "More like Scared Bob now?" Mari asked.

"Yes, Ma'am." Bob smiled gently.

"Ah, good." The Doctor nodded, pointing at him as he did so. "Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron. Carry on." The Doctor's way of sticking up for someone. Offending the other.

"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes." Octavian announced, before turning to Bob. "You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach." He ordered. Scared Bob nodded his head and turned away.

As the Doctor, Marianne, Amy and River began to walk away again, Amy had yet more questions to ask.

"Isn't there a chance this lot's gonna collapse? There's a whole ship up there." She pointed out.

"Incredible builders, the Aplans." Marianne replied.

"Had dinner with their chief architect once. Two heads are better than one." The Doctor added.

"You mean you helped him?" Amy asked.

"No, I mean he had two heads. That book, the very end, what did it say?" The Doctor suddenly asked River and Marianne.

"Hang on." River said, getting the book from her pack.

"Read it to me." The Doctor asked.

"What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels." River read in a clear voice from the big book in her hands. The Doctor nodded.

"Are we there yet?" Amy suddenly demanded. "It's a hell of a climb." She complained.

"The maze is on six levels representing the ascent of the soul. Only two levels to go." Marianne explained as River slipped the book back into her pack.

"Lovely species, the Aplan. We should visit them sometime." The Doctor said wistfully.

"I thought they were all dead?" Amy asked.

"So's Virginia Woolf. We're on her bowling team. Very relaxed, sort of cheerful. That's having two heads. You're never shot of a kiss with the other head." The Doctor shrugged.

"Doctor, there's something. I don't know what it is..." River said.

"Yeah, something wrong." The Doctor agreed in one breath. "Don't know what it is yet, working on it.. Then they started laws against self-marrying and what was that about? But that's the church for you. Erm, no offence, Bishop." The Doctor continued with his little tale, before offending Octavian.

"Quite a lot taken, if that's all right, Doctor." Octavian replied. They were now walking through a narrow passage lined with separate angelic statues.

"Lowest point in the wreckage is only about 50 feet up from here. That way." Octavian guided them.

"Church had a point, if you think about it." Amy said. "The divorces must have been messy." Marianne grinned.

"Oh!" The Doctor said, stopping walking, pulling Marianne back with him and staring at a statue.

"What?" Marianne asked him, looking at his face before turning to look at the statue. "Oh." She then said.

"Oh." River also said.

"Exactly." The Doctor said, letting Marianne's hand go and instead wrapping it around her hip and pulling her in very close to his chest- his way of subtly protecting her.

"How could we not notice that?" Marianne asked.

"Low level perception filter, or maybe we're thick." The Doctor sighed.

"What's wrong?" Octavian asked, concerned.

"Nobody move." The Doctor said loudly. "Everyone stay exactly where they are. Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we're all in danger." The Doctor said, and he, Marianne and River didn't once blink.

"What danger?" Octavian demanded.

"The Aplans." River said.

"The Aplans?" Octavian asked.

"They've got two heads." Marianne said.

"Yes, I get that. So?" Octavian asked.

"So why don't the statues?" The Doctor asked. "Everyone, over there. Just move, don't ask questions. Don't speak." He ordered. Everyone did so and moved to a spot with no statues. "Okay. I want you to switch off your torches." He ordered.

"Sir?" Octavian asked.

"Just do it." Marianne snapped. She grabbed hold of the Doctor's arm, incredibly tightly actually.

They all turned their torches off, apart from the Doctor. He could feel Marianne's heavy breathing against his chest, and he wanted nothing more than to run away with her. Run far away and never look back.

"Okay. I'm going to turn my torch off too, just for a moment." He explained to everyone.

"Are you sure?" River asked worriedly.

"No." The Doctor said, kissing Marianne's head before turning his torch off for a split second. The statues in front of them had moved, and were staring at them. Marianne's breath rushed out of her and the Doctor ran ahead, dragging her with him as usual.

"My God, they've moved!" Amy gasped. The others ran after the Doctor as he and Mari looked at all of the statues lining their way to the ship.

"They're Angels. All of them!" He exclaimed, horrified.

"But they can't be." River insisted, as scared as the Time Lords.

"Clerics, keep watching them." The Doctor said. He turned back to find that the angels had moved forward. "Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us." He said.

"There was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear." River promised, eyes wide with intense fear.

"Could they have been here already?" Amy asked.

"The Aplans, how did they die out?" Marianne asked.

"Nobody knows." River said.

"We know." The Doctor said.

"They don't look like Angels." Octavian said, referring to their cracked and scuffed appearance. Some had chunks taken out of them, withered and eroded through time. None of them were the usual perfect looking Angels like the one that they had on tape.

"And they're not fast. You said they were fast. They should have had us by now." Amy reasoned.

"They're dying. Losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries." Marianne explained.

"Losing their image." Amy said.

"And their image is their power. Power. Power!" The Doctor exclaimed, upon realising something vastly important.

"Doctor?" Marianne asked.

"Don't you see?" He asked her. "All that radiation spilling out, the drive burn. The crash wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission, for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army and it's waking up." He told her.

"We need to get out of here fast." River said insistently.

"Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in please. Any of you, come in!" Octavian said into his radio.

"It's Bob, sir. Sorry sir." Bob said.

"Bob, are Angelo and Christian with you? All the statues are active. I repeat, all the statues are active!" Octavian shouted into his radio while the others watched.

"I know, sir." Bob replied through the radio. "Angelo and Christian are dead, sir. The statues killed them, sir."

The Doctor snatched the radio from Octavian. "Bob, Sacred Bob, it's me, the Doctor. Where are you now?" The Doctor asked.

"I'm talking to my..." Octavian retorted.

"Yeah, shut up!" Marianne shouted at him.

"I'm on my way up to you, sir. I'm homing on your signal." Bob replied.

"Well done, Bob. Scared keeps you fast, told you, didn't I? Your friends, Bob, what did the Angels do to them?" The Doctor asked.

"Snapped their necks, sir." Bob replied, utterly emotionless. Marianne winced.

"That's odd." She spoke up. "That's now how the Angels kill you, they usually displace you in time. Unless they needed the bodies for something." She thought out loud. Octavian took back the radio.

"Bob, did you check their data packs for vital signs? We may be able to initiate a rescue plan." Octavian said. The Doctor snatched the radio back.

"Don't be an idiot!" Marianne exclaimed. "The Angels don't leave you alive." She hissed.

"Bob, keep running, but tell me, how did you escape?" The Doctor asked through the radio.

"Snapped my neck, sir. Wasn't as painless as I expected but it was pretty quick, so that was something." Bob said cheerfully.

"If you're dead, how can we be talking to you?" Marianne asked, standing next to the Doctor and leaning her head on his shoulder as they spoke.

"You're not talking to me, Ma'am. The Angel has no voice. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry about the confusion." Bob apologised.

"The Angel ripped a part of his brain out." Marianne winced to Amy, who blanched.

"So when you say you're on your way up to us..." The Doctor trailed, glancing at Marianne worriedly. She bit her lip.

"It's the Angel that's coming sir, yes." Bob replied.

"No way out." Mari breathed.

"Then we get out through the wreckage." Octavian said. "Go!"

"Right, all of you, run!" Marianne exclaimed.

"Marianne?" Amy asked.

"Yes, we're coming. Just go!" Mari exclaimed.

Amy and River rushed away with all the clerics. Only the Doctor, Marianne and Father Octavian remained.

"Called you an idiot. Sorry, but there's no way we could have rescued your men." Mari told him.

"I know that, Ma'am. And when you've flown away in your little blue box, I'll explain that to their families." Octavian said, before walking off. Marianne stared off into space. The Doctor rubbed her arm whilst talking to Bob.

"Angel Bob, which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?" He asked, massaging her arm with his thumb.

"Yes, sir. The other Angels are still restoring." Angel Bob replied.

"Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you." He said, before taking Marianne's hand, kissing it and running along to follow the others. On the way, they saw Amy. "Don't wait for us, go, run." He called.

"I can't!" Amy shouted. They rushed to her side. "No, really, I can't." She panicked.

"Why not?" Marianne asked.

"Look at it, look at my hand. It's stone!" She exclaimed. In her eyes, her arm gripping the rail was indeed made of cold hard stone. But in reality, she was completely normal. The Doctor began to examine her, quickly shining a torch in her eyes.

"You looked into the eyes of an Angel, didn't you?" Marianne asked Amy, leaning over the Doctor's shoulder.

"I couldn't stop myself. I tried." Amy insisted.

"Listen. It's messing with your head. Your hand is not made of stone." The Doctor promised her.

"It is. Look at it!" Amy shouted.

"It's in your mind. I promise you. You can move that hand. You can let go." The Doctor told her. Amy's muscles tensed so she was obviously trying to move. The torchlight began to flicker.

"I can't, okay? I've tried and I can't. It's stone." She snapped.

"The Angel is gonna come and it's gonna turn this light off, and then there's nothing either of us can do to stop it. So do it, concentrate, move your hand!" Marianne exclaimed passionately.

"I can't." Amy cried.

"Then we're all going to die." The Doctor said.

"You're not going to die." Amy replied.

"They'll kill the lights." Marianne nodded. The lights began to flicker and the Angels moved closer.

"You've got to go, you know you have. You've got all that stuff together and that's all got to happen. You know you can't die here!" Amy roared.

"Time can be re-written, it doesn't work like that." Marianne replied calmly. The lights flickered again. Amy turned to look at the approaching Angels.

"Keep your eyes on it. Don't blink." The Doctor informed her.

"Run!" Amy yelled.

"You see, we're not going. We're not leaving you here." The Doctor said. He turned his head and as he did so, he whispered something to Marianne.

"Run. Please." He begged incredibly quietly. "Please, for me." He pleaded. She ignored him.

"I don't need either of you to die for me. Do I look that clingy?" Amy demanded, staring at the Angels with terror in her eyes.

"You can move your hand." Marianne insisted.

"It's stone." Amy shouted.

"It's not stone!" The Doctor yelled back, frustrated that neither of them would move.

"Those people up there will die without you both. If you stay here with me, you'll have as good as killed them." Amy threatened to some extent.

"Amelia Pond, you're magnificent. And I'm sorry." Marianne said.

"It's okay, I understand. You've got to leave me." Amy nodded.

"Oh, no. We're not leaving you." Marianne laughed, before biting her hand hard. She yelped and moved it. "See, not stone! Come on!" She yelled.

They all began sprinting.

"You bit me!" Amy accused.

"And what are you?!" Marianne shouted back. "Alive!"

"I've got a mark. Look at my hand." Amy said, shoving her hand in the Doctor's face for him to see.

"Yes, very good. You should see what she's done to me in the past." The Doctor laughed.

"I shouldn't have to hear this!" Amy yelled, disgusted. She then turned to Marianne again. "Your teeth! Have you got space teeth?" She asked.

"Alive. All I'm saying." Marianne turned her face to her as they ran, grinning, her hair flying behind her as she sprinted.

When they finally reached the others at the Byzantium, the clerics were all waiting.

"The statues are advancing along all corridors. And, sir, my torch keeps flickering." A soldier told the Doctor.

"They all do." Octavian spoke for him.

"So does the gravity globe." River said, looking up at it with a critical eye.

"Clerics, we're down to four men. Expect incoming." Octavian prepared them.

"Yeah, it's the Angels. They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves." The Doctor explained.

"Which means we won't be able to see them." Octavian added.

"Which means we can't stay here!" Marianne concluded.

"There are more incoming!" Octavian panicked.

"Any suggestions?" River asked calmly.

"The statues are advancing on all sides and we don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium." Octavian replied.

"There's no way up, no way back, no way out. No pressure, but this is usually when one of you has a really good idea." River said shakily, turning to the Time Lords expectantly.

"There's always a way out." Marianne shrugged wistfully. The lights flickered off again, and when they came back on, the Angels were even closer, blocking the passage.

"There's always a way out." Marianne repeated, much quieter.

"Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor, please?" Angel Bob asked over the radio.

"Hello, Angels. What's your problem?" The Doctor asked.

"Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir." Angel Bob said.

"Why are you telling us this?" Marianne called.

"There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end." Angel Bob explained.

"Which is?" Marianne called.

"I died in fear." Angel Bob said, rather simply. Marianne closed her eyes.

"I'm sorry?" The Doctor asked.

"You told me my fear would keep me alive but I died afraid, in pain and alone. You made me trust you, and when it mattered, you let me down." Angel Bob explained.

"What are they doing?" Amy whispered to River. The Doctor was glaring at the floor, and Marianne still had her eyes closed.

"They're trying to make them angry." River whispered back.

"I'm sorry, sir. The angels were very keen for you to know that." Bob said.

"Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier." Marianne said, suddenly opening her eyes when she knew the Doctor wouldn't be able to reply. He'd frozen, completely hurt by the words Angel Bob had said.

"But you're trapped, Ma'am, and about to die." Angel Bob reminded her.

"Yeah, we're trapped. Speaking of traps, this trap has got a big mistake in it." Marianne replied, taking the radio from her frozen Doctor and speaking directly into it.

"What mistake, Ma'am?" Angel Bob asked.

"Trust me?" Marianne asked Amy.

"Yeah." Amy nodded.

"Trust me?" She asked River.

"Always." River said.

"I don't need to ask you." She said to the Doctor, and he smiled gently, the hurt obvious in his eyes.

"You lot- trust me?" Marianne then asked Octavian and the clerics.

"We have faith, Ma'am." Octavian replied.

"Then give him your gun because he's about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When he does, jump." Marianne explained, and Octavian handed the Doctor the gun. He patted Marianne's head as a 'well done'.

"Jump where?" Octavian asked.

"Just jump, high as you can." Marianne shrugged. "Leap of faith. On my signal."

"What signal?" Octavian questioned.

"You won't miss it." The Doctor grinned, getting his confidence back. He aimed the gun at the roof.

"Sorry, Ma'am, can I ask again? You mentioned a mistake?" Angel Bob asked over the radio.

"One big mistake. There's one thing you never put in a trap, if you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never put in a trap." Marianne replied.

"And what would that be, Ma'am?" Angel Bob asked.

"Us!" The Doctor yelled, firing at the gravity globe and causing it to explode.


	14. Chapter 13

Everyone recovered from their jump, as they were all seemingly sat on the floor.

"Up! Look up!" The Doctor ordered, standing up and pulling Mari with him as he did so.

"You okay?" River asked Amy worriedly, eyeing her up oddly.

"What happened?" Amy breathed, still on the floor.

"We jumped." River explained.

"Jumped where?" Amy turned to her, frowning.

"Up, up, look up!" Marianne told everyone.

"Where are we?" Amy then questioned.

"Exactly where we were." River smiled fondly at the excitable Time Lord and Time Lady.

"No we're not." Amy shook her head.

"Move your feet!" Marianne grinned.

"What are we looking at? Explain." Amy ordered, standing up and looking around.

"Oh, come on, Amy, think!" The Doctor exclaimed. "The ship crashed with the power still on, yeah? So what else is still on?" He asked. They were all stood at the bottom of the Bysantium.

"The artificial gravity." Marianne explained for everyone else. "One good jump, and up we fell. Shot out of the grav-globe to give us an updraft, and here we are!" She grinned.

"Doctor. The statues, they look more like angels now." Octavian said, looking around with his torch.

"They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage, draining all the power from the ship, restoring themselves. Within an hour, they'll be an army!" The Doctor roared. An indentation below their feet suddenly opened up (with the help of the Doctor's sonic screwdriver) just as their lights began to fizzle out again.

"They're taking out the lights." Marianne breathed. "Look at them, look at the angels. Into the ship, now!" She ordered, pushing all of them through the indentation and into the ship they'd reached. They all slid through the hole and into the ship, more than slightly confused.

"But how?" Amy demanded, peering into the hole before climbing inside.

"It's just a corridor. The gravity orientates to the floor. Now, in here, all of you." The Doctor ordered. "Don't take your eyes off the Angels." He then said, helping Mari climb into the hole. He then used his sonic on a keypad.

"OK, men, go!" Octavian shouted, and the men climbed into the corridor with the Doctor and Marianne. The door closed when everyone climbed in.

"They're here. Now, in the dark. We're finished. Run!" The Doctor exclaimed, and they all turned around to find a large door sliding shut, blocking their only exit.

"This whole place is a death trap." Octavian muttered.

"No, it's a time bomb." The Doctor corrected. "Well, it's a death trap and a time bomb. And now it's a dead end." He allowed.

"Nobody panic." Marianne laughed sheepishly. The Angels tried to open the exterior door to the corridor, shaking the handles and banging the door.

"Oh, just me then. What's through here?" The Doctor asked, gesturing toward that door.

"Secondary flight deck." River told him.

"Okay. So we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah? So what if the gravity fails?" Amy demanded angrily. River got to work on bypassing the power.

"We've thought about that." Marianne nodded, gesturing toward herself and the Doctor.

"And?" Amy raised an eyebrow.

"And we'll all plunge to our deaths. See, we've thought about it." The Doctor said quickly, looking around, panicked. "The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them, it's impossible." He sighed.

"How impossible?" Marianne asked him, looking up.

"Two minutes." He told her, looking her right in the eye with a look that screamed- 'I'm sorry,'

The hum of the engines powered down and the door they climbed in through reopened, and they could see the cavern they'd been standing in before outside.

"The hull is breached and the power's failing." Octavian explained. Marianne fought in the dark as the lights went out for the Doctor's hand, fumbling around until she finally found it and gripped it.

The arm of an Angel could be seen through the small opening, as soon as the lights went out.

"Sir! Incoming!" A cleric yelled.

"Doctor! Lights." Amy ordered. The Doctor used his free hand to turn his sonic screwdriver on to try and help River. The lights flickered on briefly and they could freely see the Angel making its way inside. The lights switched off again and then turned back on much brighter, showing four Angels this time, at the end of the corridor.

"Clerics, keep watching them." Octavian muttered.

"And don't look at their eyes!" Marianne reminded them. "Anywhere else, not their eyes."

"I've isolated the lighting grid. They can't drain the power now." The Doctor explained, lifting Marianne's hand to his mouth, kissing it and then letting it go.

"Good work." Octavian nodded, frowning at his problem with public displays of affection.

"Yes. Good. Good in many ways, good you like it so far..." The Doctor rambled.

"So far?" Amy asked.

"Well, there's only one way to open this door. I guess I'll need to route all the power in this section through the door control." He said sheepishly. Meaning the lights would have to turn off, with the Angels in the corridor with them, so they could get out alive. Or maybe not so alive.

"Good, fine, do it!" Octavian exclaimed.

"Except that includes the lights. All of them. The lights will have to be turned off." Marianne explained.

"How long for?" Octavian nodded systematically.

"Fraction of a second, maybe longer. Maybe quite a bit longer." The Doctor shrugged helpfully.

"Maybe?" Octavian demanded.

"I'm guessing." The Doctor defended.

"We're being attacked by statues in a crashed ship, there isn't a manual!" Marianne yelled."But we lost the torches, we'd be in total darkness." Amy said, sounding somewhat lost and scared.

"No other way." The Doctor said. "Bishop?"

"Dr Song, I've lost good Clerics today. You trust these two?" Octavian demanded.

"I absolutely trust them." River nodded, smiling fondly at the two of them.

"Excuse us." Marianne said, and they both turned to work on the door.

"I'm taking your word because you're the only one who can manage these two. But that only works so long as they, especially she, don't know who you are. You cost me any more men, and I might just tell her. Understood?" Octavian asked, barely louder than a whisper.

"Understood." River nodded gravely.

"Ok. We've got your backs." Octavian nodded, satisfied.

"Bless you, Bishop." The Doctor said, and Marianne grinned at him.

"Combat distance, ten feet. As soon as the lights go down, continuous fire. Full spread over the hostiles. Do not stop firing while the lights are out. Shot gun protocol, we don't have bullets to waste." Octavian said sharply.

"Amy, when the lights go down, the wheel should release." Marianne said gently, referring to the wheel handle on the door. "Spin it clockwise, four turns." She said.

"Ten." Amy said. Marianne smirked and cocked her head.

"No, four. Four turns." She corrected.

"Yeah, four. I heard you." Amy said distractedly, taking position at the door. Marianne liked how maturely she was handling it.

"Ready!" The Doctor exclaimed. He placed his sonic in the circuit, and Marianne took place by the controls.

"On my count then. God be with us all. Three... Two... One..." Octavian counted, and the lights switched off. "Fire!" He roard. The clerics open fired on the four, now moving, unseen Angels. The Doctor, Marianne, River and Amy all worked to get the damn door open.

"Turn!" The Doctor yelled.

"Quickly!" Marianne and River both stressed, panicking slightly.

"It's opening, it's working." Amy assured them all. Amy and River slipped through the door.

"Fall back!" Octavian shouted, and they all rushed through the now open door, before shutting it tight against the Angels.

They moved down a similar looking corridor to another odor. The Doctor held it open as the others rushed through.

"You two, quickly." River said, worried as Marianne refused to leave his side as he opened the door for everyone.

"Doctor!" Amy shouted. They both ran to join them as the door shut behind.

The flight deck they rushed onto was in major disrepair with exposed wires strewn all over the console. Marianne immediately rushed to one set of controls, while the Doctor stood next to her at another set.

Octavian shut the door and span the wheel, setting a device on the door.

"What are you doing?" Amy asked him.

"Magnetized the door. Nothing could turn that wheel now." Octavian explained.

"Yeah?" Marianne asked, looking up at him with a wry look on her face.

"Dear God!" Octavian yelled as the wheel began turning.

"Ah, now you're getting it!" The Doctor exclaimed. "You've bought us time, though, that's good. I am good with time." The Doctor rambled.

"Doctor!" Amy yelled, as another door wheel began turning.

"Seal that door." Marianne told the Cleric. One of them placed another device on that door too.

"We're surrounded." River said simply. The third door began to spin open, so the same Cleric placed another device on that door too.

"How long have we got?" Octavian asked the Time Lords.

"Five minutes, max." Marianne said.

"Nine." Amy said distractedly. Marianne looked at her, frowning.

"Five." She corrected, as if talking to someone stupid.

"Five, right yeah." Amy nodded.

"What d'you say nine?" The Doctor asked.

"I didn't." Amy frowned.

"We need another way out of here." River said, changing the subject.

"There isn't one." Octavian said wryly.

"Yeah, there is, course there is. This is a galaxy class ship, goes for years between planet falls. So, what do they need?" The Doctor asked, snapping his fingers.

"Of course." Marianne said. The Doctor snapped his fingers again.

"Of course what? What do they need?" Amy asked.

"Can we get in there?" Octavian asked.

"Well, it's a sealed unit, but they must have installed it somehow. This whole wall should slide up." He said, pressing against the rear wall. "There's clamps. Release the clamps!" He exclaimed grandly, using the sonic on the clamps.

"What's through there? What do they need?" Amy asked.

"They need to breathe." Marianne said gently. The door slowly rose and the Doctor and Marianne smiled fondly while Amy looked awestruck.

"But that's... That's a..." Amy trailed.

The door fully opened to reveal a large forest, full of lush vegetation and large trees.

"It's an oxygen factory." River said.

"It's a forest." Amy corrected.

"Yeah, it's a forest, in an oxygen factory." River allowed.

"And, if we're lucky, an escape route." Marianne grinned.

"Eight." Amy suddenly said gently.

"What did you say?" River turned to her.

"Nothing." Amy shrugged, smiling pleasantly.

"Is there another exit? Scan the architecture, we don't have time to get lost in there." The Doctor told Octavian.

"On it!" He exclaimed, stepping into the forest. "Stay where you are until I've checked the Rad levels." He ordered.

"But trees! On a spaceship!" Amy exclaimed, laughing slightly.

"Oh, more than trees, way better than trees. You're going to love this." The Doctor grinned, stepping into the forest. "Treeborgs..." He said, opening a section of peat moss to reveal a circuit board. "Trees plus technology. Branches become cables, become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight, breathing out air. It even rains. There's a whole mini climate. It is in eco-pod running through the heart of the ship. A forest in a bottle, on a spaceship, in a maze. Have we impressed you yet, Amy Pond?" The Doctor asked, turning to her.

"Seven." Amy laughed.

"Seven?" Marianne asked, eyebrows raised.

"Sorry, what?" Amy frowned.

"You said seven." Marianne said, cocking her head.

"No I didn't." Amy laughed sheepishly.

"Yes, you did." River called.

"Doctor! There's an exit, far end of the ship. Into the Primary Flight Deck." Octavian called.

"Good, that's where we need to go." The Doctor smiled.

"Plotting a safe path." Octavian said.

"Quick as you like." Marianne called, still watching Amy intently.

"Doctor? Excuse me. Hello? Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir." Angel Bob said over the radio.

"Ah. There you are, Angel Bob." The Doctor said, sounding pained, sinking into the command chair. "How's life? Sorry- bad subject." He grimaced.

"The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve." Angel Bob said cheerfully.

"Achieve? We're not achieving anything. We're just hanging. It's nice in here, consoles, comfy chairs, a forest. How's things with you?" The Doctor asked.

"The Angels are feasting, sir. Soon we will be able to absorb enough power to consume this vessel, this world, and all the stars and worlds beyond." Angel Bob explained.

"Well, we've got comfy chairs. Did I mention?" The Doctor asked.

"We have no need of comfy chairs." Angel Bob replied.

"I made him say comfy chairs!" The Doctor said. Marianne laughed and high-fived him.

"Six." Amy grinned. Marianne's smile faded and she snatched the radio back.

"Um, hi. Marianne Bradley, Time Lady. What have you done to Amy?" She demanded.

"There is something in her eye." Angel Bob replied. Marianne turned to Amy.

"What's in her eye?" She asked, leaning on the console and watching the ginger very carefully.

"We are." Angel Bob replied.

"What's he talking about? Marianne, I'm five. I mean, five. Fine!" Amy finally managed to say it. "I'm fine." She gulped, with everyone staring at her, all humour gone.

"You're counting." River noticed.

"Counting?" Amy asked.

"You're counting down. From ten. You have been for a couple of minutes." Marianne nodded.

"Why?" Amy frowned, obviously getting scared.

"I don't know." Marianne shrugged, trying not to panic her.

"Well, counting down to what?!" Amy demanded.

"I don't know." Marianne said again.

"We shall take her." Angel Bob said on the radio. "We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all time and space."

"Get a life, Bob." The Doctor said, snatching the radio back from his Bond. "Oops, sorry again. There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much." He spoke.

"With respect, sir, there is more power on this ship than you yet understand." Angel Bob replied.

There was suddenly a loud and horrible screeching noise.

"Dear God, what is it?" River gasped, looking frantically around.

"It's hard to put it in your terms, Dr Song, but as best I understand it, the Angels are laughing." Angel Bob replied.

"Laughing?" Marianne demanded, getting angry.

"Because you haven't noticed yet. The Doctor and Marianne in the TARDIS haven't noticed." Angel Bob said smugly.

"Doctor!" Octavian exclaimed.

"No, wait. There's something..." The Doctor said, standing up and slowly turning around. "I've missed." He said as he saw it. Marianne also turned, staring at the large glowing crack high up in the wall with an open mouth- shocked.

"That's... That's like the crack from my bedroom wall from when I was a little girl." Amy gasped.

"Yes." Marianne nodded numbly.

"Okay, we're moving out!" Octavian roared, having had enough of the Angels.

"Agreed. You two?" River turned to the Time Lords.

"Yeah! Fine." The Doctor said, using his sonic on the glowing crack.

"What are you doing?" River demanded.

"Right with you." Marianne muttered absently, glancing up at it and stood right next to him.

"We're not leaving without you!" River shouted at the both of them.

"Oh, yes you are. Bishop?" The Doctor asked.

"Miss Pond, Dr Song. Now!" Octavian said. The Doctor turned to Octavian, and while Marianne was glancing at the wall, he gestured for her too.

River grabbed Amy and pulled her into the forest. And then Octavian simply picked Marianne up, knowing she wouldn't go easily. She yelped and hit him.

"Get off me!" She exclaimed. "I'm not leaving without him!" She yelled, biting Octavian's hand.

"Sharp teeth!" He roared, dropping her on the floor. She stood up, dusted herself down and glared at the Doctor, joining him again.

"Nice try." She muttered.

"Space teeth." Octavian hissed as he walked through to the forest.

"Oh, it was worth a shot." The Doctor rolled his eyes at her immaturity as she stood next to him, arms crossed angrily.

"So what are you?" He asked the crack in the wall, looking at the readings from his sonic. "Oh, that's bad. Ah, that's extremely not very good." He said, showing Marianne. She pressed her ear against the wall and then turned back, to find themselves surrounded by Angels.

"Do not blink." She muttered, eyes very wide. The Doctor also turned and made a little 'ah!' noise. Marianne climbed over the console, followed by the Doctor.

He, however, was grabbed by his jacket collar.

"They got me!" He hissed. Marianne turned and stared at him, not really knowing what to do. Luckily, they didn't take him.

"Why are you not dead then?" She asked.

"Don't sound so disappointed." The Doctor harrumphed.

"You know what I mean." She said, leaning in gently and kissing his cheek, the Angels' hand still clamped firmly on his collar. He turned nervously to find the Angels gesturing toward the crack, worshipping it almost.

"Good, and not so good. Oh, this isn't even a little bit good." He grumbled. "I mean, is that it? Is that the power that brought you here? That's pure time energy, you can't feed on that. That's the power, that's the fire at the end of the universe. I'll tell you something else..." He trailed, with a loud rumbling nearby. "Never let me talk!" He exclaimed, picking Marianne up like Octavian had and running into the forest, leaving his jacket in the hands of the Angels.

"Don't bite me!" He begged Marianne, as she looked shocked.

"I can run too, you know!" She yelled at him.

"Yeah, but this just looks cooler. I feel like you're a damsel in distress." He grinned, very self-satisfied. She glared at him.

"You're a dork." She told him. They ran into the room just as River was lecturing Octavian.

"Father Octavian, when the Doctor and Marianne are in the room, your only mission is to keep them alive long enough to get everyone else home. And trust me. It's not easy. Now, if they're dead back there, I'll never forgive myself. And if they're alive, I'll never forgive them. And you're standing right behind me, aren't you?" River asked, sighing to herself.

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded, still carrying Marianne who looked like a rabbit caught in headlights, wide eyes and all.

"I hate you!" River turned to them both and hissed.

"You don't." The Doctor said. "Bishop, the Angels are in the forest." The Doctor explained.

"You can put me down now." Marianne said, hitting his chest.

"Ah, yes." He said sheepishly, setting her down on the floor. "Damsel..." He trailed, and she shook her head just as she noticed Amy led on the floor.

"We need visual contact on every line of approach." Octavian told his men.

"How did you get past them?" River asked them both.

"Found a crack in the wall and told them it was the end of the universe." The Doctor shrugged nonchalantly.

"What was it?" Amy asked.

"The end of the universe." Marianne nodded. "Let's have a look at you, then." She said, picking up a med-scanner and looking.

"So. What's wrong with me?" Amy asked.

"Nothing. You're fine." River informed her.

"Everything, you're dying." Marianne corrected.

"Marianne!" River snapped.

"Yes, you're right, if we lie to her, she'll get better!" Marianne snapped back. "Right, Amelia. What's wrong with Amelia? Something's in her eye. What does that mean? Doesn't mean anything." She laughed somewhat.

"Marianne." Amy said.

"Busy." The Doctor shouted over for Mari's benefit.

"Scared!" Amy yelled.

"Course, you're dying. Shut up!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"All right, let them think." River sighed, exasperated.

"What happened?" Marianne asked, standing up. "She stared at the Angel, she looked into the eye of an Angel for too long..." She trailed.

"Ma'am! Angel, incoming!" A cleric informed them. An Angel was watching from the trees.

"Keep visual contact, do not let it move!" Octavian ordered.

"Come on, come on. She watched an Angel climb out of the screen. She stared at the Angel and..." The Doctor trailed, both he and Marianne pacing, dancing the non-existent dance of thinking together. They moved toward each other subconsciously, something beautiful to watch if Amy wasn't dying.

"The image of an Angel is an Angel." Amy quoted.

"A living image in a human mind. We stare at them to stop them getting closer, we don't even blink and that's exactly what they want, cos as long as our eyes are open, they can climb inside." The Doctor realised. "There's an Angel in her mind." He stated, putting his hand over his mouth. Marianne grimaced.

"Three." Amy said. "It's coming!" She exclaimed, scared. "I can feel it. I'm going to die!" She cried.

"Please, just shut up, I'm thinking. Now counting, what's that about?" The Doctor asked. Marianne picked up the radio.

"Bob, why are they making her count?" Marianne asked.

"To make her afraid, Ma'am." Angel Bob replied.

"Okay. But why? What for?" Marianne asked..

"For fun, Ma'am." Angel Bob said. Marianne glared at the ground and threw the radio onto the floor and the Doctor growled with frustration.

"What's happening to me?!" Amy yelled.

"Inside your head, in the vision centres of your brain, there's an Angel." Mari explained, sitting next to her. "It's like there's a screen, a virtual screen inside your mind, and the Angel is climbing out of it, and it's coming to shut you off."

"Then what do I do?" Amy demanded.

"If it was a real screen, what would we do? We'd pull the plug. But we can't knock her out. The Angel would take her over." The Doctor paced.

"Then what? Quickly!" River yelled.

"We've got to shut down the vision centres of her brain. We've got pull the plug, starve the Angel." The Doctor said.

"Doctor, she's got seconds." River urged.

"How would you starve your lungs?" The Doctor asked.

"I'd stop breathing." River shrugged.

"Amelia, close your eyes!" Marianne shouted.

"No, I don't want to." Amy whined.

"Good, because that's not you, that's the Angel inside you, afraid. Close your eyes!" Marianne snarled dangerously. Amy hesitated but did as she was told, closing her eyes. The scanner beeped.

"She's normalising." River sighed. "You did it!" She laughed.


	15. Chapter 14

"Sir? Two more incoming." A cleric warned the Doctor despite their happiness that Amy was fine.

"Three more over here." Another cleric added.

"Still weak, dangerous to move her." River told them quickly, putting the scanner away and watching Amy intently.

"So, can I open my eyes now?" Amy asked, sitting up. The Doctor bent down in front of her.

"Amy, listen to me. If you open your eyes now for more than a second, you will die. The Angel is still inside you. We haven't stopped it, we've just sort of... Paused it. You've used up your countdown. You cannot open your eyes." He stressed, trying to make sure that she definitely didn't open them.

"Doctor, we're too exposed here. We have to move on." Father Octavian said from the sidelines.

The Doctor stood up and straightened his shirt out. He felt naked without his trusty jacket.

"We're exposed everywhere, and Amy can't move, and anyway, that's not the plan." He said.

"There's a plan?" River asked, sitting herself next to Amy and putting her arm around her.

"I don't know yet, I haven't finished talking. Right! Father, you and your clerics will stay here, look after Amy. If anything happens to her, I'll hold each of you personally responsible. Twice. River, you, me and Marianne are going to find the Primary Flight Deck, which is.." He trailed, licking his finger and holding it up. "A quarter mile straight ahead. We'll stabilise the wreckage, stop the Angels, and cure Amy." He rambled.

"How?" River demanded.

"Oh, we'll do a thing." Marianne shrugged confidently.

"What thing?" River asked.

"As if we know. It's a thing in progress. Respect the thing!" Marianne exclaimed.

"Moving out!" The Doctor said, grabbing Marianne's hand and beginning to walk away with her.

"Doctor, I'm coming with you. My Clerics can look after Miss Pond. These are my best men, they'd lay down their lives in her protection." Octavian explained.

"We don't need you." The Doctor said harshly.

"I don't care. Where Dr Song goes, I go." He insisted. River turned to them.

"What?" Marianne smirked, looking between the two of them. "You two engaged or something?" She laughed. River looked sheepish.

"Yes, in a manner of speaking." Octavian snapped. "Marco, you're in charge until I get back." Octavian told his men, before walking away with River.

"Odd." The Doctor muttered to Marianne and she nodded in agreement.

"Hey... Please, can't I come with you?" Amy asked desperately.

"You'd slow us down, Miss Pond." Octavian told her.

"I don't want to sound selfish, but you'd really speed me up." Amy called, scrunching her face up in reply.

Marianne sat down next to Amy for a second. "You'll be safer here. We can't protect you on the move. We'll be back as soon as we can. I promise." Marianne insisted.

"You always say that." Amy said.

"Yes, but we always come back." She said, kissing Amy's hand and standing up.

"Good luck everyone. Behave. Do not let that girl open her eyes. And keep watching the forest. Stop those Angels advancing. Amy, later!" The Doctor exclaimed, tapping her on the head. "River, going to need your computer." He said, and the Time Lords both left.

"Yeah. Later." Amy muttered, somewhat scared. Amy fidgeted with her hands for a moment, nervous. She stopped, however, when the Doctor (wearing a jacket) grabbed her hands. Marianne, wearing a completely different outfit of some skinny jeans and a vintage jumper, put an arm around her shoulders.

"Amy. You need to start trusting us, it's never been more important." The Doctor said, sounding scared and a little bit emotional. Marianne also had a few tears running down her face- something she hadn't had moments ago.

"But you don't always tell me the truth." Amy said.

"If we always told you the truth, we wouldn't need you to trust us." Marianne reminded her shakily.

"Doctor, the crack in my wall, how can it be here?" Amy asked.

"Don't know yet, but we're working on it." He said, looking distinctly at Marianne. "Now, listen. Remember what I told you when you were seven?" The Doctor asked.

"What did you tell me?" Amy asked. The Doctor rested his forehead against hers.

"No, no. That's not the point. You have to remember." He said.

"Remember what?" Amy asked, as the arm went from around her shoulders and the hands holding hers disappeared. "Doctor?! Marianne?!" She called, but they weren't there.

Meanwhile, Octavian led the Doctor, Marianne and River through the forest. There was a beeping and the Doctor looked down at his device.

"What's that?" River asked, as they walked through the pretty forest.

"Readings from a crack in the wall." Marianne said, glancing over at the woman.

"How can a crack in the wall be the end of the universe?" River asked.

"Here's what I think. One day there'll be a very big bang, so big every moment in history- past and future- will crack." The Doctor said.

"Is that possible? How?" River demanded.

"How can you be engaged in a manner of speaking?" Marianne asked, quite liking the idea of her not being into the Doctor.

"Well... Sucker for a man in a uniform." She grinned.

"Dr Song is in my personal custody." Octavian spoke up, not pleased. "I released her from the Stormcage Containment Facility four days ago and I am legally responsible for her until she has accomplished her mission and earned her pardon. Just so we understand each other." He smiled smugly, glaring at River.

"You were in Stormcage?" The Doctor demanded, shocked. River looked at his device as it bleeped.

"What? What is it?" Marianne asked.

"The date! The date of the explosion where the crack begins." The Doctor smiled.

"And for those of us who can't read the base code of the universe?" River asked sarcastically while the Time Lords were looking at the reading.

The date appeared at the bottom as- 26/06/2010.

"Amelia's time!" Marianne exclaimed.

Bored, Amy sat with her eyes still closed and her head in her hands.

"So, what's happening? Anything happening out there?" Amy asked the clerics.

"The Angels are still grouping." Marco explained.

One of the Angels reached into a tree and pulled at some wires, causing the lights to flicker. "Are you getting this too?" Marco called to another Cleric.

"The trees? Yeah." He replied.

"What's wrong with the trees?" Amy asked.

"Here too, sir. They're ripping the Treeborgs apart." A different Cleric called.

"And here. They're taking out the lights."

"What is it? What's happening? Tell me! I can't see!" Amy stressed.

"It's the trees, Ma'am. The trees are going out." Marco told her, scared. The Angels began to take advantage of the flickering lights and advanced on the small group.

The Doctor took readings from the device as Octavian looked for a way in. River stood guard and Marianne stood next to the Doctor.

"It doesn't open from here, but it's the Primary Flight Deck. This has got to be a service hatch or something." Octavian called over.

"Hurry up and open it. Time's running out." River shouted over.

"What? What did you say? Time's running out, is that what you said?" The Doctor asked.

"Yeah. I just meant..." River trailed.

"Time. What if time could run out?" The Doctor turned to Marianne.

"Got it!" Octavian exclaimed as he got the door open.

"Angel's advancing, sir." A Cleric shouted to Marco.

"Over here." Another called.

"Weapons primed. Combat distance five feet. Wait for it!" Marco ordered. Amy stood up.

"What is it? What's happening?! Just tell me!" Amy yelled.

"Keep your position and, Ma'am, keep your eyes shut!" Marco reminded her, as the Angels advanced. "Wait!" He called to his men.

A bright light suddenly appeared, and all the men were drawn toward it, looking to it.

"The ship's not on fire, is it?" Marco asked.

"It can't be." A Cleric told him. "The compressors would have taken care of it. Marco, the Angels have gone. Where'd they go?" He asked.

"What, the Angels?" Amy demanded.

"This side's clear, too." A Cleric called.

"The Angels have gone?" Amy asked.

"There's still movement out there, but away from us now." Marco frowned, looking at his hand held. "It's like they're running." He said.

"Running from what?" Amy demanded.

"Phillip, Crispin, need to get a closer look at that." Marco called. Two Clerics headed toward the lights.

"What are you all looking at? What's there?" Amy shouted, frustrated. The two men disappeared behind some trees.

"Cracks in time, time running out... How is a duck pond a duck pond if there aren't any ducks?" Marianne shouted as she paced.

"And she didn't recognise the Daleks!" The Doctor added. "Okay, time can shift. Time can change. Time can be rewritten. Ah!" The Doctor suddenly exclaimed.

"It's like... I don't know... A curtain of energy, sort of shifting. Makes you feel weird. Sick." Marco told Amy.

"And you think it scared the Angels?" She asked.

"What could scare those things?" Marco breathed, and Amy turned around nervously.

"What are you doing?" Marco demanded.

"Point me at the light." She said shakily.

"You can't open your eyes." Marco shouted at her.

"Not for more than a second, that's what the Doctor said. Still got a bit of a countdown left." She said.

"Ma'am, you can't." Marco insisted.

"I need to see it. Am I looking the right way? I have to be quick." Amy snapped. Marco sighed and turned her in the right direction.

"Very quick!" He reminded her.

"Okay.." Amy said. She opened her eyes. "It's the same shape! It's the crack in my wall." She exclaimed.

"Close your eyes. Now!" Marco yelled at her.

"It's following me! How can it be following me?" Amy demanded, eyes wide. Amy fell to her knees and Marco held her up, holding his hand over her eyes and forcing her to close them again.

"Are you okay?" He asked her.

"Yeah. It's the same shape!" She shouted at him.

"Marco, you want me to get a closer look at that?" A Cleric asked Marco.

"Go for it. Don't get too close." Marco warned.

"Hang on, what about the other two? Why not just wait 'til they're back?" Amy asked.

"What other two?" Marco frowned.

"The ones you sent before." Amy explained.

"I didn't send anyone before." Marco shifted uneasily.

"You did. I heard you. Crispin and Phillip." She insisted.

"Crispin and who?" Marco asked, frowning intently.

"Dr Song, get through now." Octavian said, pushing River through the hatch. "Doctor? Marianne?" He called, wanting to get them through too.

"Time can be unwritten." Marianne muttered as the Doctor did some calculations in the air with his finger.

"Amy, there was never a Crispin or a Phillip on this mission, I promise you." Marco assured her.

"No, I heard you. Before you sent Pedro, you sent Phillip and Crispin. And now you can't even remember them. Something happened. I don't know what, and you can't even remember!" Amy exclaimed, worried.

"Pedro?" Marco frowned, not remembering the man he'd sent to look just a few seconds before.

"Yeah, before you sent Pedro." Amy nodded.

"Who's Pedro?" Marco frowned.

"It's been happening and we haven't even noticed!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"We've got to move." Octavian warned.

"The CyberKing! A giant cyberman walks over all Victorian London and no ones remembers." The Doctor realised.

"We have to move it!" Octavian exclaimed. "The Angels could be here any second." He said, putting one hand on the Doctor's shoulder and the other on Marianne's, pushing them. They both shrugged the hands off.

"Doesn't matter. There's worse things here than Angels!" Marianne shouted. The lights suddenly flickered off and they turned to find that an Angel had its arm around Octavian's neck.

"I beg to differ, Ma'am." Octavian shuddered.

"Let him go." The Doctor ordered, using his sonic on the Angel. Marianne also used hers.

"Well, it can't let me go. Not while you're looking at it." Octavian reminded them.

"We can't stop looking. It'll kill you." Marianne said.

"It'll kill me anyway! There's no way out of this. You have to leave me!" Octavian yelled.

"Can't you wriggle out?" Marianne asked, not tearing her eyes from the Angel.

"No. It's too tight. There's nothing you can do." Octavian promised them regretfully.

"Something's happening! Pedro was here a second ago and now you can't remember him!" Amy exclaimed, pacing.

"There never was a Pedro. There's only ever been the two of us here!" Marco exclaimed.

"No, there was five of us. Why can't you remember?" Amy muttered.

"Listen. I need to get a closer look at that light. Whatever it is. Don't worry, I won't get too close." Marco assured her.

"No, you can't. You mustn't." Amy panicked.

"Here, spare communicator." He said, pressing the device into her hand. "I'll stay in touch the whole time." He promised.

"You won't. If you go back there what happened to the others will happen to you!" Amy warned.

"There weren't any others!" Marco insisted.

"There won't be any _you _ if you go back there." Amy hissed.

"Two minutes. I promise." He said, jogging away.

"Please, just listen to me!" Amy yelled. But he'd gone, and she was left alone in the clearing.

"Sir, there's nothing you can do." Octavian insisted.

"You're dead if we leave you." Marianne hissed.

"Yes. I'm dead. And before you go..." Octavian trailed.

"We're not going!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Listen to me. It's important! You can't trust her..." Octavian said.

"Trust who?" Marianne asked, knowing deep down who she shouldn't trust.

"River Song. You think you know her, but you don't. You don't understand who or what she is." Octavian said.

"Then tell us." The Doctor said.

"I've told you more than I should. Now, please, you have to go. It's your duty to go to your friends." Octavian hissed, the arm very tight around his neck.

"Just tell us why she was in Stormcage?" Marianne begged.

"She killed a man. A good man. A hero to many." Octavian explained.

"Who?" Marianne asked, having an odd feeling when he said that.

"You don't want to know, Ma'am. You really don't." Octavian laughed slightly.

"Who did she kill?!" The Doctor asked.

"Sir, the Angels are coming. You have to leave me now." Octavian told them.

"You'll die." Marianne whispered.

"I will die in the knowledge that my courage did not desert me at the end. For that, I thank God and bless the path that takes you to safety." Octavian whispered back.

"I wish I'd known you better." The Doctor said.

"I think, Sir, you know me at my best." Octavian smiled.

"Ready?" Marianne asked quietly.

"Content." Octavian assured them both. The Doctor and Marianne then ran out of the hatch and locked it behind them, leaving Father Octavian to his blessed death.

When they got into the Flight Deck, River was stood by a defunct teleport.

"There's a teleport!" She exclaimed. "If I can get it to work, we can beam the others here. Where's Octavian?" She asked.

"Octavian's dead, so is that teleport. You're wasting your time. I'm going to need your communicator." The Doctor said, snatching it from her.

"Hello, are you there?" Amy said softly into the radio.

"I'm here. I'm fine. I'm quite close to it now." Marco replied.

"Then come back! Come back now, please." Amy begged.

"It's weird looking at it. It feels really..." He trailed, and all Amy could hear was the static crackling that ensued.

"Really what? Hello? Really what? Hello! Hello?!" Amy yelled into the radio.

"Is that you?" The Doctor's voice suddenly asked through the radio.

"Doctor?" Amy asked, surprised.

"Where are you? Are the Clerics with you?" He asked.

"They've gone." Amy sighed. "There was a light and they walked into the light. Doctor, they didn't even remember each other." She said, scared.

"No, they wouldn't." Marianne's voice also came over the radio.

"What is that light?" Amy heard River asked.

"Times' running out." The Doctor said. "Amy, I'm sorry. I should never have left you there." He said.

"Well, what do I do now?" Amy asked.

"You come to us. Primary Flight Deck, other end of the forest." The Doctor explained.

"I can't see!" Amy shouted. "I can't open my eyes."

"Turn on the spot." Marianne ordered as the Doctor used his sonic screwdriver on the communicator.

"Sorry. What?" Amy frowned.

"Just do it. Turn on the spot." She repeated. "When the communicator sounds like the screwdriver, you're facing the right way, so just follow the sound." Marianne said, terrified for her friend.

Amy turned in a small circle and listened for the sound.

"You have to start moving now." The Doctor said desperately. "There's time energy spilling out of that crack and you have to stay ahead of it."

"But the Angels, they're everywhere." Amy muttered.

"I'm sorry, I really am, but the Angels can only kill you." The Doctor sighed.

"What does time energy do?" Amy asked.

"Just keep moving." Marianne said, before going to River and snatching a vortex manipulator from her belt.

"What're you doing?" River demanded.

"Excuse me language, but fuck this. She can't see a thing and that's not gonna work." She said, plugging in Amy's co-ordinates.

"No you don't!" The Doctor shouted, terrified for her.

"You can't stop me." She said, and then she was gone.

Amy stopped walking when she heard a little squeak and a bang near her. She turned to the direction of the noise.

"What's that? Who're you?" Amy demanded.

"It's me." Marianne winced, standing up and taking Amy's hand. "Amelia Pond, I'm going to walk us there." She said.

"Marianne?" Amy asked. "What does time energy do?" She asked, letting Marianne lead her through the forest by her hand.

"It will erase every moment of your existence. You will never have lived at all." Marianne sighed.

"Marianne! I'm incredibly mad right now!" The Doctor's voice came through the communicator.

"Ah, what you gonna do?" Marianne shrugged nonchalantly. She heard the Doctor yell to himself.

Back at the Flight Deck, they could hear a heavy clunking noise.

"What's that?" River asked.

"The Angels running from the fire. They came here to feed on the time energy. Now it's going to feed on them." The Doctor explained.

"You two, listen to me." The Doctor said into the communicator. "Because this is important, the forest is full of Angels. More than we estimated. Not enough for Marianne to keep her eyes on. Amy, you'll have to walk like you can see. Help her out." The Doctor explained.

"What do you mean?" Amy asked.

"Look, just keep moving." The Doctor said desperately.

"There are Angels around us right now." Marianne said, eyes wide, not blinking. "We need to go quickly. Do what he said, walk like you can see. Look to your right, I'll cover the left." She whispered in Amy's ear.

"This is going to be hard but you can do it. There are a lot of Angels there. They're scared and running and right now they're not that interested in you. They'll assume, Amy, that you can see them and their instincts will kick in. All you've got to do is walk like you can see."

Marianne stood still, as did Amy. They'd walked right between two Angels, and Marianne felt like crying through the fear. They were inches from her.

"Amelia, don't move your head." She whispered. "They're right next to us." She whimpered.

Back on the Flight Deck, the Doctor heard this and closed his eyes.

"You're not moving. You have to do this." The Doctor hissed. "Now." He urged them. He banged his hand on the instrument panel, gritting his teeth. "You have to do this!" He yelled.

"Come on." Marianne said, trying to make it seem less scary than it actually was. They slowly began to walk forwards. Amy suddenly tripped over a root of a plant and dropped the communicator.

"I can't find it!" Amy exclaimed.

"I can't look. There's one right in front of me." Marianne gulped, it's face inches from hers. Amy scrabbled around in the dirt with only one hand, the other still gripped in Marianne's. "Doctor. I can't find it and she can't move." Amy said, terrified.

"Doctor!" Marianne yelled, looking down for a second at Amy and looking back to find the Angel's mouth open right in her face.

Suddenly the girls were both engulfed in a bright light. They both appeared on the flight deck, supported by River. Their hands were still tightly locked together and Marianne was breathing heavily.

"Don't open your eyes." River said to Amy. "You're on the Flight Deck, the Doctor's here. I teleported you." She smiled. "See? Told you I could get it working." She told the Doctor.

"River Song, I could bloody kiss you." The Doctor laughed, relieved. Marianne glared at him. "But I won't..." He trailed. Marianne let Amy go and ran for the Doctor. He hugged her tightly, their eyes both closed as they thanked their lucky stars.

An alarm suddenly blared and they separated.

"What's that?" River asked.

"The Angels are draining the last of the ship's power, which means... The shiled's going to release!" The Doctor yelled. The shield to the forest opened. They were confronted by a large number of Angels. The Doctor stepped forwards.

"Angel Bob, I presume." The Doctor said.

"The time field is coming. It will destroy our reality." Angel Bob replied.

"Yeah, and look at you, all running away. What can I do for you?" The Doctor asked.

"There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close and they will be saved." Angel Bob explained.

"Yeah, I could do that. But why?" The Doctor smirked.

"Your friends would also be saved." Angel Bob spoke up.

"Well, there is that." The Doctor nodded.

"I've travelled in time. I'm a complicated space/time event, too. Throw me in." River stepped up.

"Oh, be serious!" Marianne exclaimed. "Compared to me, the Angels are more complicated than you and it would take every one of them to amount to me, get a grip."

"Both of you?! I can't let you do this." River insisted.

"No, really, get a grip." The Doctor told her.

"You're not going to die here!" River yelled.

"No, I mean it. River, Amy, get a grip." The Doctor said.

"Oh, genius!" River laughed, rushing to Amy.

"Sir, Ma'am, the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now." Angel Bob said cheerfully.

"Thing is, Bob, the Angels are draining all the power from the ship, every last bit of it. And you know what? I think they've forgotten where they're standing. I think they've forgotten the gravity of the situation. Or to put it another way, Angels.." The Doctor trailed.

"You hold on tight and don't you let go for anything." River told Amy, placing Amy's hands on a handle before gripping one herself.

"Night night." Marianne laughed, blowing them a kiss. As the gravity failed due to the loss of power, the Doctor and Marianne both casually turned to grip handles themselves. The deck turned on its side and they all gripped on for dear life as the Angels were sucked into the crack. There was a burst of light and the crack snapped shut.

Amy was leaning on a rock, wrapped in a blanket. The Doctor and Marianne were sat next to her with a Cleric behind.

"Ah, bruised everywhere." Amy cursed.

"Me too." The Doctor nodded.

"You didn't have to climb out with your eyes closed." Amy smirked.

"Neither did you, I kept saying." Marianne spoke up.

"The Angels all fell into the time field. The Angel in your memory never existed. It can't harm you now." The Doctor explained.

"Then why do I remember it all? Those guys on the ship didn't remember each other." Amy asked.

"You're a time traveller, now. Changes the way you see the universe forever. Good, right?" Marianne asked.

"And the crack. Is that gone too?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, for now." The Doctor nodded. "But the explosion that caused it is still happening. Somewhere out there." He shrugged.

River then casually walked over, her hands locked in handcuffs.

"Must it always end this way?" She asked the three of them.

"What now?" Marianne squinted up at her.

"The prison ship's in orbit. They'll beam me up any second." River sighed. "I might have done enough to earn a pardon this time. We'll see." She smiled.

"Octavian said you killed a man." The Doctor spoke up.

"Yes, I did. A good man. A very good man. The best man I've ever known." River said.

"Who?" Marianne asked, suspicious.

"It's a long story, Sweetie. Can't be told. It has to be lived. No sneak previews. Well, except for this one. You'll see me again when the Pandorica opens." She explained.

"The Pandorica, ha!" The Doctor grinned. "That's a fairy tale." He smirked.

"Oh, aren't we all?" River laughed. "I'll see you there." She winked.

"Looking forward to it." Marianne smirked.

"I remember it well." River grinned. She walked away, smirking to herself.

"Bye, River." Amy said, getting up from the floor and running to the woman.

"See, you Amy." She smiled fondly. Her handcuffs suddenly beeped. "Oh! I think that's my ride." She grinned.

"Can we trust you, River Song?" Marianne asked seriously.

"If you like but where's the fun in that?" She laughed, and was suddenly teleported away.

Marianne turned to look at the ocean. The Doctor did so too.

"What are you thinking?" Amy asked.

"Time can be rewritten." The Doctor said quietly.

"I want to go home." Amy said, sat on the cream jump seat. Marianne grimaced and looked at the ground.

"Okay." The Doctor said quietly.

"No, not like that!" She smiled, standing up and joining them both. "I just want to show you something. You're running from River. I'm running too." She explained.

The TARDIS materialised outside of Amy's house and the trio walked out into her room. Amy made them sit on her bed with her, looking at the wedding gown hanging from her wardrobe.

"Well!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"Yeah!" Amy said.

"Blimey." Marianne said.

"I know. This is the same night we left, yeah?" She asked.

"We've been gone five minutes." The Doctor nodded. Amy went inside her bedside table and pulled the drawer open. She took her ring box out and opened it.

"I'm getting married in the morning." She said.

"Why did you leave it here?" Marianne asked, taking the box and looking at the beautiful ring.

"Why did I leave my engagement ring when I ran away with some strange aliens the night before my wedding?" Amy asked, raising her eyebrows and smirking.

"Yeah." Marianne smirked.

"You really are aliens, aren't you?" Amy mused.

"So, who's the lucky fella?" The Doctor asked.

"You met him." Amy said.

"Ah, the good looking one or the other one?" The Doctor then asked, miming having a large nose. Marianne slapped his chest for being rude.

"The other one." Amy smiled sadly.

"Well, he was good too." Marianne smiled.

"So, do you comfort a lot of people the night before their wedding?" Amy asked.

"Why would you need comforting?" Marianne then asked.

"I nearly died." Amy reminded them both. "I was alone in the dark and I nearly died." She said. Marianne stood up.

"Where you going?" The Doctor asked, and by his side, Amy rolled her eyes at his clingyness to her.

"To make tea?" Marianne asked. "You need tea when you're being comforted." She reminded him, before slipping into the TARDIS. The Doctor turned back to Amy, smiling oddly.

"Anyway, it made me think." Amy continued talking, feeling bad for what she was about to do.

"Well, yes, natural. I think sometimes. Well, lot's of times." The Doctor nodded, rambling slighlty.

"About what I want. About who I want. You know what I mean?" Amy asked, frowning slightly.

"Yeah." The Doctor nodded. "No." He admitted.

"About... Who I want." She said again.

"Oh, right, yeah... No, still not getting it." The Doctor shook his head helplessly.

"I know.. You're happy. But you don't know until you try, do you?" She asked. The Doctor shrugged, still not getting what she was on about. "Doctor, in a sentence, in one very simple sentence that even you can understand..." Amy trailed, practically clambering on top of him. The Doctor's eyes widened and he nervously pushed her away and stood over the foot rail to get away.

"Uh! You're getting married in the morning, and you're right! I'm happy. Very happy!" He exclaimed nervously.

"The morning's a very long time away." Amy said, pushing him against the TARDIS. "And you've never had anyone else. She might not be the one for you." Amy shrugged, trying to undress him.

"I'm 907 years old." The Doctor snapped, pulling his braces back up and pushing her away again.

"Oh, you are sweet. But I really wasn't suggesting anything quite so... Long term." Amy muttered, before pressing her lips on his. The Doctor frowned and pushed her away _once again. _

"No, you don't understand. I'm with Marianne. I'm incredibly happy right now. I ruined it once, I'm not ruining it again and what did..." The Doctor said before he was interrupted.

"What the HELL do you think you're doing?!" Marianne yelled from the TARDIS door, letting the three cups of tea fall to the floor before grabbing Amy's arm and pulling her away from the Doctor. "I've just had him panicking in my head for the past minute!" She yelled. "We do have a _telepathic bond, _ you know?" She demanded. Amy looked shell shocked.

The Doctor sighed with relief. "Amy, you're getting married in the _morning._ " He said again. "In the morning." He repeated, upon realising something. "It's all about you. Everything is about you." He told Amy, while Marianne was in the right mind to slap her.

"Amy Pond... I don't know why, I have no idea, but quite possibly the single most important thing in the history of the universe is that I get you sorted out right now." The Doctor said. Marianne grabbed Amy by the arm again and pushed her into the TARDIS, whilst also glaring at the Doctor. He followed helplessly, flinching when Marianne slammed the door shut and stormed away, leaving them alone.

"See, she can't handle you." Amy winked at him.

"She can handle me better than you ever could. Can you just please _stop? _ How clearer do you want it? I'm with Marianne. We're Bonded. Nothing can come between that. Give up." He snapped, rushing after her.


	16. Chapter 15

"The thing that annoys me isn't the fact that I've been nothing but nice to you and you still fuck me over behind my back, but the fact that I risked my life to save yours not hours before." Marianne shouted, with Amy her victim and the Doctor watching nearby.

"It was an error in judgement!" Amy insisted.

"Error in judgement! I could happily throw you off this ship right now, and claim that was an 'error in judgement' and somehow I don't think you'd be very happy about that!" Marianne shrieked.

"I think that's a bit different." Amy snorted.

"What you don't understand, _Amelia, _is that when you tried kissing him, the psychic Bond in our minds started physically hurting. I could feel it. It hurt like Hell. For me and for him. It was like someone was trying to rip my soul from my body." Marianne lectured.

"That's the power of our Bond, Amy, you don't understand it. You can't even try to understand. But yes, it hurt." The Doctor spoke quietly, walking forward and sliding his arm around angry Marianne's waist.

Amy finally seemed to realise the connection that the two Time Lords had, and how it wouldn't easily be cut apart. Especially not by her.

"I'm sorry." She promised quietly and sincerely. Marianne shrugged and left Amy's bedroom, instead storming into the console room and sitting on the jump seat.

"She'll get over it." The Doctor told Amy, not sure if he was actually telling the truth. He left her to it and shut her bedroom door behind him.

Somethings just couldn't be fixed, and the Doctor had a feeling that Amy's error in judgement might have been the end for her. He knew that he'd soon be dropping Amy back off in Leadworth, with her fiance, where she belonged.

"The reason for this call is because I haven't told you for seven hours that I love you, which is a scandal, and even if we weren't getting married tomorrow, I'd ask you to marry me anyway." Amy's machine said into her empty bedroom, the remainder of a call from Rory Williams. "Yes, I would, because you are smashing." He sounded rather drunk. And in fact, he was.

Behind him, a large cake was wheeled in, and stripper music began to play in the background. His friends all cheered and tried to get him off the phone, in which he was smiling into.

"Oh.. Oh blimey, I'll see you tomorrow." Rory spluttered into his phone as he saw the cake. He hung up the phone and watched eagerly.

"Out! Out! Out!" His friends began to chant. Out of the cake popped the Doctor's head, instead of the much waited for strippers, causing the men to grimace and calm down.

The music stopped playing and Rory shook his head in disbelief while the Doctor looked around him, bemused.

"Rory!" The Doctor laughed. "That's a relief. I thought I'd burst out of the wrong cake."

"Again." A voice said behind them. Marianne was leading a shivering girl inside, a coat draped around her shoulders.

"Ah, the girl in the bikini!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Lovely girl, Lucy." He smiled. Marianne glared at him, before looking at Rory and feeling guilty, despite also feeling the brunt of Amy's mistake.

"Now, then. Rory, we need to talk about your fiancee. She tried to kiss me." The Doctor said, cheerfully. Everyone gasped. Rory dropped the glass in his hand and looked hurt and shocked.

Amy paced the TARDIS floor nervously and alone. The Doctor was sat in his harness underneath the console, doing some welding work. Marianne was watching him, not wanting to be with Amy.

"Oh! The life out there, it dazzles. I mean, it blinds you to the things that are important. I've seen it devour relationships and plans..." The Doctor trailed, and Rory looked down nervously as the TARDIS had a minor explosion. Marianne casually calmed it down by wheeling a cog.

"It's meant to do that." She lied to the panicking Rory.

"For one person to have seen all that, to taste the glory and then go back, it WILL tear you apart. So, I'm sending you somewhere. Together." The Doctor explained. Amy stopped pacing.

"What, like a date?" She demanded.

"Anywhere you want, any time you want." The Doctor nodded, walking back up to the console, tightly clasping Marianne's hand. "One condition, it has to be amazing. The Moulin Rouge in 1890! The first Olympic Games! Think of it as a wedding present, because, frankly, it's either this or tokens." The Doctor grimaced. Marianne was gauging poor Rory's stunned expression.

"A lot to take in, isn't it?" She asked. "Let me explain..." She trailed, gesturing to the TARDIS.

"It's another dimension." Rory said quickly.

"It's basically another dimen... What?" Marianne asked, that's the first time someone had got it right.

"After Prisoner Zero, I've been reading up on all the latest scientific theories; FTL travel, parallel universes." Rory shrugged.

"Good for you." Marianne nodded.

"I like the bit when someone says, 'It's bigger on the inside.'" The Doctor frowned. "I always look forward to that." He whined to Marianne, who then patted his shoulder comfortingly.

"So, this date. I'm kind of done with running down corridors. What do you think, Rory?" Amy asked. Rory ignored her, looking upset.

"How about somewhere... Romantic?" The Doctor asked, wiggling his eyebrows at Marianne who smirked despite her anger.

The TARDIS materialized in the middle of a busy market street. The Doctor and Marianne poked their heads out first.

"Venice!" Marianne laughed.

"Venice!" The Doctor repeated, opening his arms. "Impossible city. Preposterous city!" He exclaimed, twirling Marianne around slightly as she laughed. Rory watched as Amy averted her eyes grumpily. "Founded by refugees running from Attila the Hun. It was just a collection of little wooden huts in the marsh, but became one of the most powerful cities in the world." The Doctor explained. "Constantly being invaded, constantly flooding... Constantly beautiful!"

"You gotta love Venice." Marianne agreed, walking past a small crumbling wall and smelling a bright red flower poking out of a groove. "Ah, Byron, Napoleon, Cassanova." She listed.

"Ooh." The Doctor said, sounding alarmed as he and Marianne glanced at each other worriedly. He checked his watch as she glanced around, as if looking for someone. "1580. That's all right. Cassanova doesn't get born for another 145 years. Don't want to run into him. We owe him a chicken." The Doctor explained.

"_You _owe Cassanova a chicken." Marianne corrected, smirking slightly.

"We had a bet." The Doctor shrugged, explaining himself to the humans. An official dressed in black stepped out in front of the Doctor and Marianne, who paused and stepped back slightly.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa. Papers, if you please! Proof of residency, current bill of medical inspection." The official demanded. Marianne and the Doctor both held up their psychic papers.

"There you go, fella." The Doctor said, as the official took their papers.

"All to your satisfaction, I think you'll find." Marianne smiled smugly.

"I am so sorry, Your Royal Highnesses. I didn't realise." The official bowed deeply to the apparent King and Queen of Bohemia.

"No worries." The Doctor said as they took their paper back. "You were just doing your job. What exactly is your job?" He then frowned.

"Checking for aliens, visitors from foreign lands what might bring the plague with them." The official shrugged, looking worriedly around as if an 'alien' was going to get him right that moment.

"Oh, that's nice. See where you bring me?" Amy demanded, glaring at the two of them before remembering how angry Marianne was at her. She backed away at Mari's glare. "The plague.." She muttered, defending herself.

Don't worry. We're under quarantine here, no one comes in, no one goes out, and all because of the grace and wisdom of our patron, Signora Rosanna Calvierri." The official explained, pointing to the crest on the box he was carrying.

"How interesting. I heard the plague died out years ago." Marianne spoke up, raising an eyebrow.

"Not out there. No, Signora Calvierri has seen it with her own eyes. Streets are piled high with bodies, she said." The official shrugged.

"Did she, now?" Marianne questioned suspiciously. Rory reached for Marianne's psychic paper. The other three continued walking away.

"According to this, you're the King and Queen of Bohemia, Amy's a Viscountess and I'm your eunuch!" Rory exclaimed. Amy stopped and glanced behind her.

"Oh, yeah, I'll explain later." Amy grimaced, before motioning for him to catch up with them.

They wandered through the pretty streets of Venice, before stopping when they heard an uproar. They watched as a procession of veiled girls, dressed all in white, walked down the road. It seemed to be a daily ritual, with everyone around stopping to watch.

A man then ran up to the girls, worried about someone.

"Where's my Isabella?" The man demanded, lifting up some of the girls' veils.

"What are you doing? Get away from there." A woman snapped at him, slapping his hands away from the girls.

"Isabella! Isabella!" The man exclaimed, finally finding her and lifting her veil up. "It's me!" He told Isabella, whom they all presumed was his daughter.

One of the girls came forwards and hissed at him, her mouth full of fangs. The man fell to the ground, surprised and horrified. And obviously, worried about her daughter.

"Girls, come along!" The woman exclaimed grandly, leading the veiled girls away. The girls continued in their procession, just as a handsome man clamped his boot on the fallen man's chest to keep him there.

"She's gone." The handsome man snarled, leaving with a swirl of his rich, velvet cloak.

"Isabella! It's me!" The man yelled, as two guards lifted him from the ground.

"What was that about?" Amy turned to her companions. The Doctor and Marianne immediately began to walk away.

"Isabella..." The man trailed, distraught.

"I hate it when they do that!" Amy complained to Rory, who stood there looking a little worried.

The Doctor and Marianne, meanwhile, were following the man along a narrow passageway. The Doctor quickly got in front of him.

"Who were those girls?" He asked. The man stopped and looked at them both.

"I thought everyone knew about the Calvierri school." The man frowned.

"Our first day here." Marianne said, stepping down from the steps she was on and joining the Doctor.

"Parents do all sorts of things to get their children into good schools. They move house, they change religion." The Doctor shrugged. "So why are you trying to get her out?" The Doctor whispered, as if talking about something forbidden.

"Something happens in there." The man said. "Something magical, something evil. My own daughter didn't recognise me. And the girl who pushed me away, her face... Like an animal." The man shuddered. The Doctor put his arm around the man's shoulders.

"I think it's time I met this Signora Calvierri." The Doctor nodded, and Marianne grinned in agreement.

Amy and Rory walked awkwardly down a narrow passageway, following the Doctor and Mari, wherever they'd got to.

"And what have you been doing?" Rory questioned.

"Well... Running. And fighting. I've been scared. More scared than I thought I was.." Amy trailed.

"Did you miss me?" Rory interrupted.

"I... I knew I'd be coming back." Amy insisted, looking to the cobbled ground beneath her boots.

"He was right. It blots out everything else." Rory sighed angrily.

"Rory. This is our date. Let's not do this, not now." Amy pleaded. There was a fluttering of wings overhead and Rory looked up.

"Ha! We're in Venice and it's 1580!" Rory suddenly exclaimed.

"I know!" Amy laughed.

They both laughed as they walked off, arm in arm. Amy posed in a doorway as Rory went to take her picture with his phone, but before he could take it, a piercing scream made Amy set off running.

"What was that?" Rory called after her, before running after her too. They ran into a passageway where they found the same handsome man from before bent over a flower seller, with blood on her neck. The man then turned toward the, his mouth open, showing his many sharp fangs. He walked past Amy and Rory with a sharp hiss, holding his cape to his face.

Rory rushed to the poor girl on the floor.

"She'll be okay. Where are you... Amy! Come back!" Rory exclaimed as he found Amy running after the sly man. He sighed and followed her, abruptly coming to an end as they reached the end of the canals. He'd gone somewhere, and there was only one place he could have gone. The canal below their feet.

The Doctor and Marianne happily made their way down some stone steps and into the chamber of the Calvierri school. On one wall, the Doctor spied a mirror.

"Hello, handsome." He told himself, straightening his bow tie. Marianne swatted him and kissed his cheek fondly. He smiled cheekily at her.

"Who are you?" Various girls said behind them. The duo turned around to find a group of girls dressed in white gowns behind them. They both frowned and turned back to the mirror, where they _should have _seen them, but they _couldn't see them._ Marianne focused on the pretty girls while the Doctor continued looking back and forth between the girls and the mirror.

"How are you doing that? I... am... loving it!" The Doctor exclaimed. "You're like Houdini, only five scary girls, only he was shorter... Will be shorter. I'm rambling." The Doctor rambled nervously.

"I'll ask you again. Who are you?" The girls all asked in unison.

"Why don't you check this out?" The Doctor asked, holding his library card out showing his first incarnation. "Library card. Of course, it's with... He's... I need the spare. Pale, creepy girls who don't like sunlight and can't be seen in..." The Doctor trailed, pointing to the mirror.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking? But the city. Why shut down the city? Unless..." Marianne trailed, thinking hard.

"Leave now, or we shall call for the steward. If you're lucky." The girls all hissed.

"Ooh!" The Doctor laughed and Marianne slapped him again. The girls hissed and bared their fangs as they advanced on the both of them.

"Tell me the whole plan. Listen, we would love to stay whole thing... We're thrilled. Oh, this is Christmas!" The Doctor laughed as they both backed away up the stairs. They then began sprinting, holding hands as they ran up to the top. The girls hissed as they followed after them.

Marianne squealed as a girl nearly grabbed her, but the Doctor picked her up by the waist and placed her a few stairs up, hence saving her.

As they rushed out of the school, they spotted Amy and rushed over to her.

"Doctor!" Amy laughed. She then glanced at Marianne and her smile faded.

"We just met some vampires!" The Doctor laughed.

"We just saw a vampire!" Amy then laughed, deciding that if the Doctor was being completely normal, then so would she. Just put the whole kissing thing behind them and move on. It was trying to convince Marianne and Rory to do the same that was the hard work.

"And creepy girls and everything." The Doctor continued, excitedly, aware that Marianne was leaning into him slightly, still furious.

"Vampires!" Amy laughed. They jumped up and down together happily as Rory ran over to them.

"We think we just saw a vampire." Rory breathed.

"Yeah, yeah, we know. Amy was just telling me." The Doctor laughed. Marianne saw Rory's downbeat expression and smiled at him. Rory smiled faintly back. They were the ones in the same boat.

"Oh. Right. Well..." Rory trailed. Marianne decided that on this little adventure, she would stay with Rory, despite it being his date. He deserved someone who'd help him, and would at least wait for him!

"Okay, so, first we need to get back in there somehow." Marianne said.

"What?!" Rory exclaimed, not liking that idea.

"How do we do that?" Amy asked, worried slightly.

"Back in where!?" Rory shrieked. Marianne tapped his arm supportively.

"Come and meet our new friend." The Doctor grinned excitedly.

The man with the daughter trapped in the school - Guido - rolled out a map of Venice onto the table. Rory and Marianne were both sat at the back of the house on some barrels while the Doctor and Amy looked at the map.

"Marianne..." The Doctor whined for the sixth time. He wanted her help, but she insisted she'd be staying with Rory, as moral support. Amy didn't seem to care.

"As you saw, there's no clear way in. The House of Calvierri is like a fortress. But there's a tunnel underneath it, with a ladder and shaft that leads up into the house. I tried to get in once myself, but I hit a trapdoor." Guido explained, looking saddened by his own misfortune.

"You need someone on the inside." Amy nodded.

"No." The Doctor warned.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" Amy refuted.

"We pretend you're an applicant for the school to get you inside and tonight you come down and open the trapdoor to let us in." The Doctor told her.

"Oh. So you do know what I was going to say." Amy frowned.

"If anyone's going to be sneaking inside, it's me. I know what I'm doing." Marianne said quietly.

"Are you insane?" Rory demanded, staring at the girls.

"We don't have another option." Amy said. "And no. I'll go." She said, looking levelly at Marianne.

"He said no, Amy. Listen to him." Rory insisted.

"There is another option." Guido spoke up, looking at Rory. "I work at the Arsenale. We build warships for the Navy." Guido explained.

"Gunpowder." The Doctor said, smelling the barrels. "Most people just nick stationery from where they work." He quipped.

Rory and Marianne slowly slid from the barrels and backed away.

"Look, I have a thing about guns and huge quantities of explosives." The Doctor shrugged, and Marianne nodded in agreement.

"What do you suggest, then?" Guido asked. "We wait until they turn her into an animal?" He turned around and poked the fire.

"I'll be there for three, four hours tops." Amy said.

"No you won't. Like I said. I know how to get out of situations without _kissing the nearest man!_" Marianne suddenly shouted. She exhaled loudly and everyone stared at her after her outburst. Amy backed away and sat down on a small chair, sulking.

"Right. Marianne, I trust you more." The Doctor said. "And you have our Bond. We talk through that at all times, you hear me?" He demanded, staring her in the eyes. She nodded obediently. "We go together. Say you're my fiance." The Doctor planned, taking both her hands and kissing them. Rory sighed and looked away.

"No, no." Amy spoke up, not liking that at all. "They've already seen the Doctor. You should do it." Amy turned to Rory.

"Me?" Rory asked, surprised.

"Yeah! You can be her brother." Amy said, rubbing his head playfully. The Doctor smiled, absently playing with Marianne's hand.

"Why is the Doctor being her fiance so weird, y'know, when they are actually together?" Rory asked, knowing full well that that's why she didn't want them to do it. "This whole thing is mental! They're VAMPIRES, for God's sake!" Rory exclaimed.

"We hope." Marianne laughed. The Doctor glared at her, seriously thinking of just sending Amy in instead.

"So if they're not vampires..?" Amy asked.

"Makes you wonder what's so bad it doesn't actually mind us thinking it's a vampire?" The Doctor asked, staring intently at Marianne.

Marianne and Rory stood next to each other, facing the grand Signora Calvierri. Rory was wearing Guido's clothes while Marianne wore a beautiful lace gown, courtesy of a quick trip to the TARDIS.

Signora Calvierri wore a huge and expensive looking dress, with heavy beading and jewel detailing. She also had a large headdress type thing, with beautiful long curls and a pretty face.

"So, basically, both of our parents died from getting the plague." Rory told Calvierri and her son, Francesco. "I'm a gondola driver... So... Money's a bit tight, so having my sister go to your school for special people would be brilliant. Cheers." Rory concluded.

Francesco showed an interest in Marianne.

"Carlo, explain yourself. Why have you brought me this imbecile?" Signora Calvierri demanded of her servant.

"Signora, they have references from the King and Queen of Bohemia." Carlo explained. Signora's eyes widened.

"What?! Let me see!" Calvierri exclaimed, grasping the psychic paper from Rory's hands. "Well, now I can see what got my steward so excited. What say you, Francesco? Do you like her?" Signora asked her son. Francesco circled her, a mean look in his eyes.

_What's going on? _The Doctor asked in her mind. She didn't reply, too caught up in Francesco, worried about why he was looking at her in that way.

"Oh, I do, Mother. I do." Francesco hissed.

"Then we would be delighted to accept her. Say goodbye to your sister." Signora ordered. Marianne tried to grab Rory's hand but Carlo led a stuttering Rory away.

"I'll be fine!" Marianne called to Rory, and Rory exhaled and nodded worriedly.

_Marianne, you promised me you'd talk to me all the time. What's going on?_

_It's fine, stop worrying. I'm in, they're taking Rory out now. _She finally replied.

Behind Marianne, Francesco bared his teeth at Rory.

"Marianne!" He yelled as he saw that, worried about his new friend- the only one in the group who stuck up for him.

Carlo led Marianne through the school, with the girls watching as he took her upstairs. He took her to a room which she would be sharing with a few other girls.

"There are clothes on the bed. Get changed and wait here." Carlo instructed. Marianne glared at the servant, and he glared back. Marianne looked around the quiet and opulent room.

All the other girls left her to it, all except for one. Marianne knew she was more human than the rest of them.

"Hey, I'm Marianne." Marianne smiled warmly, deciding not to change her clothes at all. "What's your name?" She asked.

"Isabella." Isabella replied sadly and demurely, her olive toned skin glistening with tears.

"Listen, we're going to get you out of here, but I need you to tell me what's been going on. What are they doing to you?" Marianne asked gently, sitting next to the girl. Isabella obviously didn't want to reply. Marianne placed her hands on the sides of the girls head and concentrated very hard.

She saw a green room, at night. They gather around Isabella's bed and take her to the green room, with a chair with straps. Like a surgeons chair. It scares her. And then she wakes up, and the sunlight burns.

"How are you doing that?" Isabella gasped. Marianne let her hands go.

"When I need information, I'll get it." She assured the girl, standing back up and glancing around the room. A bell tolled and Marianne looked warily to the tiny window in the room.

The Doctor, Rory and Amy sat in the back of a gondola as Guido, dressed in Rory's clothes, guided them along the canal.

"She'll be fine." The Doctor repeated for the fiftieth time since they'd got in that boat. Amy rolled her eyes.

"Will you stop saying that?!" She exclaimed.

"He just knows what it's like to be in love." Rory defended him quietly. Amy grew quiet as she watched the murky water glided past them as Guido smoothly operated the gondola.

Still dressed in her same lace gown, Marianne made her way quickly downstairs, holding a torch in front of her as she ran. She rushed inside the room that Isabella had shown her in her mind. Inside the room she heard screams and cries, so she followed them, not noticing the skeletal hand poking out of a wooden chest as she ran past.

The gondola arrived at the destination.

"We're here." Guido said, somewhat excited at the prospect of seeing his daughter. Carrying a lit torch as Marianne was doing, the Doctor opened the creaking gate. Rory followed, but Guido stayed put, helping Amy out.

"Right. Ok, I'll got first. If anything happens to me, go back..." The Doctor told Rory, as Amy got out of the gondola and joined the men.

"What happened? Between you two? You said she kissed you." Rory finally decided to get it off his chest.

"Now?!" The Doctor exclaimed. "You want to do this now?!" He demanded, rushing up the wooden steps toward the door leading into the school.

"I have a right to know." Rory snapped, and Amy followed meekly behind. "We're getting married in 430 years." He turned to remind her.

"I was frightened, but we survived. And the relief of it.. And so I kissed him." Amy explained, trying her best to do so anyway.

"And he kissed you back?" Rory asked.

"As if!" Amy exclaimed. "He loves Marianne." She said. "I kissed him because he was there." Amy finally said. "Rory, I love you." She promised.

"Can we go and see the vampires now, please?" The Doctor whispered as a strong gust of wind blew their torch out, leaving them in the pitch black of night.

Marianne walked to the well in the centre of the courtyard, setting her lamp down and releasing the bar locking the grate. When she'd done it, she picked her lamp back up and almost walked right into Carlo. She shrieked with shock and dropped her lamp.

The Doctor could feel her shock in his mind and he stopped.

"Something's gone wrong." He said suddenly, looking absolutely distraught.

Meanwhile, Carlo forced Marianne down the stairs.

"Control yourself, child!" Carlo roared.

"Trust me, I am older than you, and five of your former generations!" Marianne hissed at him. Carlo snorted as Carlo led Marianne to Signora and Francesco. Some of the girls were also waiting for her.

"Get your hands off me." Marianne yelled, so loud that the Doctor could hear it in their Bond.

"Psychic paper. Did you really think that would work on me?" Signora demanded angrily. There was a hum of power nearby as the chamber bathed in green light. Marianne looked around her nervously.

The Doctor anxiously pushed the grate open and climbed inside, incredibly worried.

"Marianne! Marianne!" He yelled quietly. "I can't see a thing." He muttered.

"Just as well I brought this then." Rory said, pulling out a small pencil torch and shining it inside.

"No, someone's got her! I can feel it." He mumbled, pulling out a larger torch from in his jacket. "Ultraviolet. Portable sunlight." He then told Rory.

"Yours is bigger than mine." Rory sighed. Amy giggled behind them, and both men glared at her.

"I don't think this is the right time." Rory whispered to her.

Signora circled Marianne while Carlo held her in place.

"Where are you from? Did you fall through the chasm?" Signora demanded.

"Mother this is pointless. Let's just start the process." Francesco sighed.

"Hold your tongue, Francesco! I need to know what this girl is doing in a world of savages with psychic paper." Signora hissed. Two girls carried over a wooden chair with wrist straps. "Who are you with? I scarcely believe your idiot brother sent oyu." Francesco set a hook into a socket above the chair. "What are you doing in MY school?" Francesco demanded. One of the girls attached an IV bag to the hook.

"OK. I'll tell you. But you won't like it. Gallifrey." Marianne whispered. Signora looked shocked.

"Impossible!" She exclaimed. "You should be dead! Burning alive! You know what, put her in the chair." She ordered.

Carlo pushed her into the chair and the girls fastened the straps as she struggled. Francesco held her head from behind.

"Get your hands off me." She hissed, and before they could properly secure her hands, she reached down the top of her dress and pulled her sonic screwdriver from her bra.

Signora stepped back slightly as Marianne pointed it at her as if it was a gun.

"Let me go or I shoot it." She warned, using the same type of warning that the Doctor had with his biscuit bomb with the Daleks.

"Make sport of me, will you? Tease me as if I were your dog? Well, this dog has a bite girl." Signora snapped, opening her mouth wide to show her fangs.

_Doctor! _ Marianne yelled in her mind.

The Signora leaned in to bite her neck, and did so, despite the screwdriver buzzing uselessly in Mari's hand. She slumped back weakened.

_Mari, what's happening? Where are you?! _ The Doctor demanded in his mind, but he got absolutely no reply, and it was worrying him like Hell. It didn't help that Amy and Rory were talking nonsense behind him.

"If we cancel now, we lose the deposit on the village hall, the salsa band..." Rory sighed. The Doctor opened a chest on the floor which revealed skeletal remains.

"What happened to them?" Rory asked.

"They've had all the moisture taken out of them." The Doctor breathed. "And they're going to do it to Mari!" He realised, bounding out of the door and through corridors, relying on their Bond to tell him where she was.

The Signora leaned back from Marianne, licking her lips. The girls left and Marianne's eyes glazed over.

"My... Blood... Is different." Marianne croaked. Francesco leaned down and ran a finger along her puncture wounds.

"Mm, gorgeous." The Signora complimented.

"Mother... Where you drink from her, may we share? I'm so thirsty." Francesco breathed.

"Of course, darling." Signora grinned at him.

"That's what vampires do, right?" Amy called as they chased the Doctor through corridors. "They drink your blood and replace it with their own."

"Yeah, except they haven't just had their blood taken, but all the water too." The Doctor explained.

"Why did they die?" Rory asked. "Why aren't they like the girls in the school?" Rory called.

"Maybe not everyone survives the process!" The Doctor called. Rory got in his way and pointed at him.

"You know what's dangerous about you?" He demanded. "It's not that you make people take risks. It's that you make them want to impress you. You make it so they don't want to let you down. And you're doing it to your own Bond too. You have no idea how dangerous you make people to themselves when you're around." Rory snapped. "And you've done it to Marianne!" He then laughed at the absurdity of it all.


	17. Chapter 16

"This is how it works. First, we drink you until you're dry. Then, we fill you with our blood. It rages through you like a fire, changing you, until one morning you awake and find your humanity a dream... Now faded." Signora grinned toothily at Marianne, who was slumped with heavy eyes in the chair.

"Or you die." Francesco said, brushing Marianne's hair from her face. "That can happen." He added.

Marianne was too weakened to do anything, she simply watched the both of them talking.

"And if you survive, there are 10,000 husbands waiting for you in the water." The Signora went on to explain. She opened her mouth to speak more when footsteps stopped them.

The Doctor sprinted into the room, followed by Amy and Rory. Amy immediately rushed to Marianne, while Rory and the Doctor both restrained the Signora and her son.

"Come on." Amy muttered, untying the straps around Marianne. She undid the final one and Marianne slid to the floor, too weak to stand or even hold her head up.

"She's had too much blood taken." The Doctor said through gritted teeth. "Come on!" He yelled. He picked Marianne up from the floor, and followed the other two outside, carrying her bridal style.

They were well aware that the mother and son were following, but all the Doctor could think about was saving Marianne's life.

A group of girls approached from the other end of the corridor, making them halt to a stop. Among them was Isabella, who broke from the group and joined Amy and Rory.

"This rescue plan, not exactly watertight, is it?" The Signora asked, smirking.

"Ha!" The Doctor exclaimed, motioning to Rory. Rory then brandished the UV light. The girls shied away and they continued running down the corridor, this time with Isabella.

"Seal the house." They heard the Signora bark from behind them.

The group rushed down a flight of stone stairs.

"They're not vampires." Rory exclaimed.

"What?!" The Doctor demanded, awkwardly trying to open the door with his sonic screwdriver, with Marianne's head slumped on his shoulder. He looked down at her distractedly.

"I saw them when I kicked her. They're not vampires, they're aliens!" Rory exclaimed.

"Classic!" The Doctor chuckled.

"That's GOOD news? What is wrong with you people?!" Rory demanded angrily. Amy smirked at her fiance as the aliens approaching and decided instead to just break down the door. He shoved his shoulder against it hard and urged Rory, Amy and Isabella through.

"Come on, move!" He yelled. The Doctor followed, making sure not to do something stupid like drop his girlfriend or something.

Isabella opened the doorway and ushered them down the stairs and into the canal, where Guido was waiting in his gondola.

"Quickly. Get out!" Isabella urged, pushing them out as well as shying from the harsh Venetian sun. She put her hand up to protect her eyes.

The Doctor tried to help Isabella, gently nudging her with his arm but she couldn't move. "Come on, run!" He urged.

"I can't." Isabella cried, before being dragged back inside the school.

The Doctor handed Mari to Rory before pounding hard on the door. But he fell back, electrocuted. The door had an electric current running through it. He fell to the ground. Amy ran to check on him.

"The only people who can save us aren't awake!" Rory yelled, frustrated. "Is he dead?" He asked more gently.

"No, he's breathing." Amy called back. Amy then looked back at Guido, who was staring into the water, knowing he'd never see Isabella again.

The Doctor suddenly sat up, breathing rather heavily. He then stood up, and, moving too fast for his wobbly legs, almost fell into the water. Amy grabbed his jacket to stop him.

"You need to do something, Doctor. She's fading." Rory said urgently. The Doctor motioned for him to lie her on the floor, which Rory did.

The Doctor then bent down and placed his hands on the side of her head. "Look away." He urged. Neither human did so.

Suddenly a gust of golden energy burst from the Doctor, and with an agonised scream, it fed into Marianne's mind. Marianne also screamed, her eyes wide open. Amy grimaced at the horrible sound, and Rory had to look away. It was painful to watch, it was as if they were being tortured.

The Doctor writhed through the pain, and Marianne shook slightly. And as quickly as it began, it stopped. The Doctor fell back, panting and watching Mari. Marianne was led back on the floor, also breathing heavily. But her eyes were open.

"Ow." She said. The Doctor laughed at her.

"Yes ow." He agreed, he held his hand out to her and shakily, the two of them stood up. They both looked at each other before flinging their arms around each other and hugging tightly. Marianne was laughing and the Doctor grinning.

"I thought you were a gonner then." He admitted.

"I don't die that easily." Marianne replied.

"What did you just do?" Rory asked, more than slightly shocked.

"She'd almost ran out of blood. So I gave her some life energy of mine. Painful for me, powerful for her. You can only do it with a Bond because you need a strong connection." The Doctor explained. "Well, you also need a motive to go through so much pain." He grinned, eyeing Mari up. "I believe Marianne is a good motive."

Rory smiled wistfully at the both of them, before turning to Amy. She was looking into the water, causing Rory's smile to fade.

The Signora walked into her throne room to find Marianne sat in her throne, with the Doctor leaning on the arm of it.

"Long way from Saturnyne, aren't you... Sister of the Water?" The Doctor asked, eyeing up the lady oddly.

"No, let me guess. The owner of the psychic paper. Then I take it you're both refugees like me? Another Time Lord?" The Signora asked, eyeing Marianne up.

"I'll make you a deal, which is generous of me because you tried to change my Marianne. I'm resisting the urge right now to throw you into a supernova. But no, I'm going to try to be nice. You're using a perception filter. It doesn't change your features, but manipulates the brainwaves of the person looking at you. But seeing one of you for the first time in, say, a mirror, the brain doesn't know what to fill the gap with. So it leaves it blank, hence no reflection." The Doctor rambled.

"Your question?" The Signora asked, holding herself highly.

"Why can we see your teeth?" Marianne spoke up, glaring at the woman who'd fed on her. The Signora laughed.

"Self-preservation over-rides the mirage. The subconscious perceives the threat and tries to alert the conscious brain." She explained.

"Where's Isabella?" The Doctor demanded.

"My turn to speak, children of Gallifrey. You should be in a museum. Or in a mausoleum." The Signora smirked.

"Why are you here?" Marianne demanded.

"We ran from the Silence." The Signora replied, and the Time Lords both frowned with confusion. "Why are you here?" She then asked.

"Wedding present." The Doctor nodded. "The Silence?" He asked.

"There were cracks. Some were tiny, some were as big as the sky. Through some we saw worlds and people and through others we saw silence. And the end of all things. We fled to an ocean like ours and the crack snapped shut behind us. Saturnyne was lost." She explained sorrowfully, looking as if she was still in mourning for her lost planet.

"So Earth is to become Saturnyne Mark 2?" Marianne smirked. As if they'd let that happen.

"And you can help me." Signora nodded. "We can build a new society here, as others have. What do you say?" She asked.

"Hm." The Doctor mused, standing up from his seat by the throne. He walked to face the woman. "Where's Isabella?" He whispered.

"Isabella?" The Signora asked.

"The girl who ran with us." The Doctor explained.

"Oh, deserters must be executed. Any general will tell you that. I need an answer, Time Lords. A partnership. Any which way you choose." The Signora spoke slowly.

"Ah. I think you should have asked this before trying to take away my Bond. Of course not." The Doctor snapped. The Signora's eyes clouded over.

"Carlo!" She yelled. Carlo rushed over. "You're right. Besides, we're nothing alike. I will bend the heavens to save my race, while YOU philosophise." She smiled brashly.

"This ends today. I'll tear down the house of Calvierri, stone by stone." The Doctor promised, while Carlo began to push the two of them out. "Take your hands off me. And you know why? Two reasons. You tried to take Marianne from me." The door opened behind the two of them. "And you didn't know Isabella's name." He shouted, slamming the door behind him as they walked out.

A guard opened the gate and the two of them, hand in hand, strode out.

Guido had let them into his house again, despite the fact that they'd failed to save his daughter. The Time Lords were both pacing around his living room, while the others simply watched them.

"I need to think. Come on brain, think, think. Think!" The Doctor exclaimed.

"If they're fish people, it explains why they hate the sun." Amy said, as the Time Lords both took their seats at the dining table.

The Doctor put his hand over Amy's mouth to stop her talking. "Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush." He warned.

"It's the school thing I don't understand." Rory spoke up. Marianne put her hand over his mouth.

"Stop talking, brain thinking. Hush." Marianne copied without realising.

"I say we take the fight to them." Guido nodded.

"Ah!" The Doctor yelled.

"What?" Guido frowned.

"Ah!" The Doctor nodded at Rory, who then placed his hand over Guido's mouth. "Her planet dies, so they flee through a crack in space and time, and end up here, then she closes of the city and, one by one, changes people into creatures like her to start a new gene pool. Got it! Then what?" The Doctor asked Mari.

"They come up from the sea, they can't survive on land, so what's she going to do? Unless she's going to do something to the environment to make it habitable... I shall bend the heavens to save my race." Mari quoted. "Bend the heavens.. She's going to sink Venice." She realised with horror.

"She's going to sink Venice?" Guido asked, horrified, as they all took their hands down from each others mouths.

"And repopulate it with the girls she's transformed." The Doctor nodded, kissing Mari's cheek for helping him out.

"You can't repopulate somewhere with just women. You need... Blokes." Rory blushed.

"She's got men." Marianne said.

"Where?" The Doctor asked her.

"In the canal. She said- 'There are 10,000 husbands waiting in the water.'" She replied.

"Only the male offspring survived the journey here. She's got 10,000 children swimming in the canals, waiting for mum to make them some compatible girlfriends. Ew. I mean, that's really, ew..." The Doctor grimaced.

They all looked up as a loud clattering from above.

"The people upstairs are very noisy." The Doctor quipped.

"There aren't any people upstairs." Guido replied, scared.

"Knew you were going to say that!" Mariann exclaimed. "Did anyone else know he was going to say that?" She grinned. Nobody replied and her smile faded, instead turning her attention to the creaking wood up ahead.

"Is it the vampires?" Rory asked quietly.

"They're not vampires. Fish from space." The Doctor corrected. There was a loud thump and the sound of breaking glass as the converted girls entered the room. There were more outside, showing their large sharp teeth. The group stood quickly, startled. The Doctor picked up the UV light as Guido crossed himself.

"Aren't we on the second floor?" Rory asked. The girls broke the glass of the window and the Doctor brandished the light to keep them back. Mari used her sonic to show their true forms.

"What's happened to them?" Guido asked.

"There's nothing left of them. They've been fully converted. Blimey, fish from space have never been so... Buxom." The Doctor said. Marianne glared at him and slapped his arm, putting her sonic away. "Move. Come on." The Doctor urged. They all sprinted downstairs, Guido at the back.

"Give me the lamp." Guido ordered, turning and using it on the girls. Amy shoved the front door open and she and Rory ran out.

Guido stopped at the door before closing it, locking the Doctor and Mari out. "Stay away from the door." He told them.

"No! What are you doing?" Mari demanded. Guido used the light on the girls, still inside his house. "We're not leaving you, what are you doing?!" She yelled.

The Doctor tried to use his sonic on the door but it didn't open.

"Guido!" The Doctor yelled. He suddenly realised that Guido was planning to blow up the house, and picked Mari up at her hips and ran away, not sure that she knew what was going to happen.

"I can run!" She told him. He let her down sheepishly and the two sprinted away. It didn't matter, they were both thrown to the floor as the house exploded horribly behind them.

The both of them and Amy and Rory turned to look at the damage behind. They heard people shrieking and clamoring in the streets. The Signora was doing something.

"Rosanna's initiating the final place." Marianne realised.

"We need to stop her. Come on!" Amy exclaimed.

"No. Get back to the TARDIS." The Doctor ordered.

"You can't stop her on your own." Amy insisted.

"We don't discuss this! I tell you to do something, Amy, and you do it. Huh?" The Doctor demanded. "Besides, I have Mari." He added. Amy stormed off angrily.

"Thank you." Rory smiled gently, before following the angry lady.

"You're welcome!" He yelled after him. They heard screaming in the opposite direction and they both ran off.

They both walked into the throne room, before walking directly to her throne and examining it. Marianne smashed the back of it to find alien circuitry. The Doctor took out his sonic.

"You're too late. Such determination to save one city. Hard to believe it's the same man and woman who let an entire race turn to cinders and ash. Now you can watch as my people take their new Kingdom." The Signora said behind them both.

"The girls have gone, Rosanna." Marianne said quietly, without so much as turning around.

"You're lying." The Signora spat.

"Shouldn't we be dead? Hmm?" The Doctor asked. "Rosanna, please, help us. There are 200,000 people in this city." He pleaded.

"So save them." She hissed, before storming away.

The Doctor gazed at the throne. They couldn't stop anything from there. He then looked at Mari, and they both ran from the room. They looked out of the balcony on the second floor to try and see what was going on. They headed back, however, when they heard footsteps in the throne room.

Amy and Rory.

"Get out! We need to stabilise the storm." The Doctor said, running back to the throne.

"We're not leaving you." Rory insisted. Marianne had been nothing but kind to him that day, and he felt like he could back them up.

"Right." The Doctor said, waking up to them. "So one minute it's 'you make people a danger to themselves' the next its 'we're not leaving you.' But if one of you gets squashed or blown up or eaten, who gets..." The Doctor trailed, before the ground shaking cut him off. The ceiling above them began to crumble onto them, and they fell to the ground.

"What was that?" Rory asked.

"Nothing. Bit of an earthquake." The Doctor said, hauling himself and Mari up.

"An earthquake?" Amy asked.

"Manipulate the elements and it can trigger earthquakes. But don't worry about it." Marianne shrugged.

"No?" Rory asked sarcastically.

"No. Worry about the tidal waves caused by the earthquake." She grinned at him.

"Right, Rosanna's throne is the control hub but she's locked the program, so tear out every single wire and circuit in the throne. Go crazy. Hit it with a stick, anything." The Doctor told them. "We need to shut it down and re-route the control to the secondary hub, which I'm guessing will also be the generator." The Doctor guessed as the storm outside grew out of control.

As Rory and Amy worked on destroying the throne in the throne room, the Doctor and Marianne sped up to the bell tower.

They both held their hands over their ears as the bells tolled loudly, dinging over and over again,

"Shut up. Shut up!" The Doctor groaned, just as it stilled and shut up. "That's better!" He said brightly.

Marianne tried to pull one of the cables, but it didn't budge. The Doctor decided then to climb up onto the rail, gripping the columns as the rain poured onto the both of them. The Doctor slipped and Mari shrieked, clamping her hands on his feet to keep him up. He regained his balance and began to climb up.

"Just... Be careful!" Marianne yelled to him. He reached the top using the cable and reached the giant sphere at the top. He opened the sphere to reveal the device controlling the storm. He began to examine it, to try and find out how to stop it.

"What's going on?" Marianne shouted, squinting as rain fell on her face. She knew it was pointless joining him, as the tension might break and there wasn't enough for the two of them.

"Don't know yet!" The Doctor called down and Mari bit her thumb nail nervously. Meanwhile, the Doctor found a toggle switch and flipped it, laughing at how easy it was. The rain stopped and the sky cleared, returning to the blue and bright day it had previously been. Birds even began to sing.

Marianne laughed, as did Amy and Rory, who then both hugged each other.

"You did it! Come on!" Marianne urged.

They both clambered down to the quay side of the canal, where they found the Signora stripping to her chemise. Her perception filter had died, and all that remained was her. The canal water began to bubble as she walked along the plank.

"Rosanna!" The Doctor yelled as the Time Lords chased her.

"One city to save an entire species. Was that so much to ask?" he defeated Rosanna demanded.

"We told you, you can't go back and change time." Marianne approached her slowly. "You mourn but you live. We know because we did it." Marianne assured her.

"Tell me. Can your consciences carry the weight of another dead race?" The woman demanded. "Remember us. Dream of us." She spat, before allowing herself to fall into the bubbling water.

"No!" The Doctor yelled, watching as the water stopping and became still once more as Rosanna joined her dead race.

"Thanks for helping me out back there." Marianne said quietly to the flushing Amy.

"It doesn't matter." Amy smiled, hoping they could move on. Marianne sighed.

"I won't insist that you go back home." Marianne explained as the two girls walked alone by the side of the pretty deadly canal. "But I am still hurt by what you did. Not just to me, but to him too. Rory. You hurt him more than me, because you're supposed to be marrying him. If you make it up with him, you make up with me. I know it would have been anyone, if they'd have been there. I don't think you love my Doctor. But please, just take it easy on me for a while. I'd save your life, but I won't go out of my way to protect you. Give me time to come to terms with what you did, and then everything can get back to normal." Mari rambled. Amy nodded before tightly hugging the girl to her chest, tears welling up in her big eyes.

"I'm sorry!" Amy cried. Marianne sighed and hugged Amy back.

"Ah, Amelia Pond. I can't stay mad with you." She sighed, giving in and forgiving her.

As the townsfolk cleaned up after the storm, the group all headed back to the TARDIS.

"Now, then. what about you two, eh?" The Doctor asked, his left hand swinging as he and Mari held hands. "Next stop Leadworth Register Office?" He grinned. "Maybe we could give you away." He winked at Amy.

"It's fine, just drop me back where you found me. I'll just say you've.." Rory sighed.

"No." Marianne said harshly. Rory stopped and looked at her.

"What?" He asked.

"As if we'd drop you off!" She laughed.

"You're not going to kill me, are you?" Rory asked with wide eyes. Marianne frowned at him.

"Stay with us." Amy interjected. "Please. Just for a bit. I want you to stay." Amy promised.

"Fine with us." The Doctor nodded in the background.

"Yeah?" Rory smiled. "I would like that." He nodded.

"Nice one." Amy grinned, before kissing him. "I will pop the kettle on." She said, unlocking the TARDIS door and turning around. "Hey, look at this. Got my spaceship, got my Marianne back, got my boys. My work here is done." Amy grinned. Marianne smiled and rolled her eyes. Both girls walked inside the TARDIS.

"We are not her boys." Rory scoffed.

"You are." The Doctor slapped his arm.

"Yeah, I am." Rory sighed. "You're Marianne's." Rory then said.

"Am not." The Doctor refuted. Rory looked at him before the Doctor also sighed. "Yep, I am."

They were about to enter the TARDIS when the Doctor stopped him.

"Rory, listen to that." He instructed.

"What? All I can hear is silence." Rory frowned, before walking into the spaceship.


	18. Chapter 17

Amy was mixing cake mixture in a bowl when her eyes widened and she gasped. She slammed the bowl onto the table and gripped onto it for dear life. She was heavily pregnant, and going into labour. The usual.

"Rory!" She screamed, eyes scrunched up with pain. "Rory, it's starting!" She squeaked. Rory, sporting long hair in a ponytail, sprinted inside.

"Ah. OK... OK." He said as he ran into the kitchen. However, when he did so, he came face to face with Amy sitting at the table, eating mixture from the bowl.

"False alarm." She shrugged nonchalantly, smiling innocently at her ponytailed husband.

"What?" Rory demanded, heart pounding.

"Well, I don't know what it feels like." Amy insisted, frowning at him. "I've never had a baby before." She then reminded him. Amy frowned.

"No." Amy said, standing up.

"I know. Leaf blowers. Use a rake!" Rory rolled his eyes, smirking at his own little none-joke.

"No, it's..." Amy said, once more slamming the bowl onto the table. They both turned their heads to the kitchen window and looked outside.

"I knew. I just knew." Amy sighed, and they both slowly headed outside.

The TARDIS had landed in the middle of Amy's much loved flowers. The door opened and the Doctor and Marianne both poked their heads out of the door, wincing against the sunlight. They both stepped out.

"Rory." Marianne grinned. Rory walked over to greet them both.

"Marianne. Doctor." Rory nodded.

"We've crushed your flowers." The Doctor noticed, looking back at them with disdain.

"_You _ crushed their flowers. I wasn't anywhere near the console." Marianne refuted, hitting his chest playfully.

"Oh, Amy's going to kill you." Rory said calmly to the Doctor, who frowned.

"Where is she?" The Doctor smiled.

"She'll need a bit longer." Rory said awkwardly.

"Whenever you're ready, Amy." Mari called. And then she walked out.

"Oh, wahey! You've swallowed a planet." The Doctor laughed. resting a hand on her swollen stomach.

"I'm pregnant." Amy told him, no smile on her face. He thought she was just fat.

"You're huge." The Doctor laughed.

"Yeah, I'm pregnant." Amy nodded.

"Look at you. When worlds collide." The Doctor smirked, and nudged Mari who nodded at him, waiting for him to understand what she was saying.

"Doctor. I'm pregnant." Amy said patiently.

"Oh, look at you both." The Doctor grinned wistfully. "Five years later and you haven't changed a bit." He hugged Amy before looking down at her. "Apart from age and size." He amended.

"And this little thing here." Marianne said, flicking Rory's ponytail and resisting the urge to laugh.

"Good to see you both." Amy laughed, hugging Mari too.

"Are you pregnant?" The Doctor asked.

"Congratulations." Marianne told the humans, who then nodded and smiled at her. Amy shook her head at the Doctor and walked inside with Marianne, both girls arm in arm as they caught up. The Doctor clapped Rory on the shoulder before following them inside.

The group walked down a village lane, looking at the wide variety of nothing to do.

"Ah, Leadworth. Vibrant as ever." Marianne quipped.

"It's Upper Leadworth, actually. We've gone slightly upmarket." Rory corrected. He obviously said that a lot.

"Where is everyone?" The Doctor grimaced at the boring surroundings.

"This is busy." Amy stressed. "OK, it's quiet but it's really restful and healthy. Loads of people here live well into their 90's." She nodded insistently.

"Well, don't let that get you down." Marianne laughed at their seriousness.

"It's not getting me down." Amy frowned. They all took a seat on a wooden bench.

"We wanted to see how you were. We don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS. These Time Lord's are for life. You don't get rid of us so easily." The Doctor joked.

"You both came here by mistake, didn't you?" Amy asked seriously.

"Yeah, bit of a mistake. But look, what a result." The Doctor gestured between him and his grinning Bond. "Look at this... Bench. What a nice bench. What will they think of next?" He asked. Marianne smirked.

Nobody answered and the four of them sat in awkward silence. Bored. Nothing to say. Nothing to do.

"So. What do you do around here to stave off the, you know..." Marianne struggled for the words and gesticulated in the air.

"Boredom?" Amy nodded.

"Self harm." Mari corrected, leaning forwards to look at the two humans.

"We relax..." Amy said, and both the Doctor and Marianne looked disgusted. "We live, we listen to the birds." Amy nodded. "Yeah, see birds. Those are nice." She said unconvincingly. Meanwhile, drops of snow where beginning to fall.

"We didn't get time to listen to birdsong back in the TARDIS days." Rory added. The birdsong gradually began to get louder and louder.

"Oh blimey. My head's a bit... Oh.." The Doctor said, holding his head in his hands and then sitting up. "No, you're right. There wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good... Old... days." He said as he began to drift off. Marianne's head was already slumped on his shoulder as she slept. Rory and Amy soon followed suit.

The Doctor woke up on the floor of the TARDIS.

"What? No, yes, sorry, what?" He asked, mumbling and confused. Marianne cracked an eye open and glanced around at the TARDIS interior. She sighed with relief. They both walked to the console and Rory followed, after a definitely not-pregnant Amy.

"Oh, you're okay." Marianne sighed. "Thank God. I had a terrible nightmare about the both of you." She explained. "Don't ask. You don't want to know." She promised them.

"Oh, OK." Amy nodded, confused. Rory glanced at Marianne as if she was crazy.

"I also had a kind of dream thing." Rory nodded.

"Me too." The Doctor said.

"Yeah, so did I." Amy added.

"Not a nightmare though. Just... We were married." Rory turned to Amy.

"Yeah. In a little village." Amy continued. The Doctor and Marianne both looked surprised.

"A sweet little village, and you were pregnant." Rory smiled wistfully.

"Yeah, I was huge. I was a boat." Amy grinned. The Doctor walked up to Rory and tugged on his hoodie.

"So you had the same dream then? Exactly the same one?" Rory asked.

"Are you calling me a boat?" Amy demanded, eyes narrowing.

"And you two, you two were visiting." Rory ignored her and turned his attention to the Time Lords.

Marianne held open Amy's jacket to check she wasn't huge still.

"Yeah, you came to our cottage." Amy pointed at them both.

"How can we have the same dream? It doesn't make sense." Rory asked.

"And you had a nightmare about us. What happened in the nightmare?" Amy asked them both.

"It was similar." Marianne nodded awkwardly. "In some aspects."

"What aspects?" Rory asked.

"All of them." Marianne shrugged. The Doctor nodded in agreement. The thought of a normal life in Upper Leadworth was enough to turn anyone mad.

"You both had the same dream!" Amy claimed.

"Basically." The Doctor nodded.

"You said it was a nightmare." Rory accused.

"Did I say nightmare?" Mari asked, frowning. "No. More of a really good... Mare." She laughed.

"It doesn't matter." The Doctor interjected. "We all had some kind of psychic episode. We probably jumped a time track. Forget it, we're back to reality now." The Doctor said. But were they? Birdsong was becoming louder and louder once more. In the TARDIS. With no birds.

"Doctor, if we're back in reality how come I can still hear birds?" Amy asked.

"Yeah, the same birds." Rory agreed. "The same ones we heard in the..."

"Dream." Rory said as they awoke on the same bench they'd been sat on before. Rory and the Doctor had their heads pressed together, and Marianne had hers still on the Doctor's shoulder. They all sat up and looked at each other. Rory pulled away from the Doctor in embarrassment.

"Sorry. Nodded off, stupid. God, I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS." Rory explained. The Doctor stood up and Rory looked at his wife. "You had the same dream, didn't you?" He eyed her up.

Amy nodded. "Back in the TARDIS. Weren't we just saying the same thing?" She frowned.

"But we thought this was the dream." Rory nodded. Marianne stood and joined the Doctor.

She bent down and picked up a small stone, examining it and then throwing it back to the ground.

"I think so. Why do dreams fade so quickly?" Amy also stood up, once more huge and pregnant.

"Doctor, what's going on?" Rory walked over to them.

"Is this because of you? Is this some kind of Time Lord thing because you've both shown up again?" Amy accused. Marianne looked hurt that she'd consider such a thing.

"Listen. Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear, or feel." Mari ordered.

"But we're awake now." Rory reminded her.

"You thought that on the TARDIS too." Mari retorted.

"But we're home." Amy said, looking back at her cute cottage.

"Yeah. You're home. You're also dreaming. Trouble is, which is which? Are we flashing forwards or backwards? Hold on tight. This is going to be a tricky one." The Doctor spoke up ominously.

Amy awoke in the jump seat with a gasp. She looked over to the console where the Doctor and Marianne were avidly working on something.

"This is bad." The Doctor spoke. "I don't like this." He kicked the console hard and hurt his foot. "Argh!" He groaned, hopping and holding his throbbing foot. Marianne guffawed.

"Don't use force. You just embarrass yourself." She reminded him. He glared up at her.

"Shall I run and get the manual?" Amy asked. The Doctor walked downstairs and under the console.

"I threw it in a supernova." He called.

"You threw the manual in a supernova? Why?" Amy laughed.

"He disagreed with it." Marianne rolled her eyes and joined him down there.

"Stop talking to me when I'm cross." The Doctor chided at his friend.

"OK, but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS, is that what caused us to dream about the future?" Rory asked.

"If we were actually dreaming of the future..." Marianne trailed, as they all headed back upstairs.

"Of course we were. We were in Leadworth." Amy sounded disappointed by that.

"Upper Leadworth." Rory corrected.

"Yeah, and we could still be in Upper Leadworth, dreaming of this. Don't you see?" The Doctor demanded.

"No. OK. This is real. I'm definitely awake now." Amy nodded.

"And you thought you were awake when you were a boat." Marianne reminded her, turning to face her and pointing at her skinny stomach.

"Hey! Pregnant." Amy frowned.

"And you could be giving birth right now. This could be the dream. Mari told you- don't trust anything we see, hear or feel." The Doctor reminded her. "Examine everything. Look for all the details that don't ring true." He explained.

"OK, we're in a spaceship that's bigger on the inside than the outside." Rory nodded.

"With a bow-tie wearing alien, who has somehow managed to bag Marianne - another alien." Amy added.

"So maybe 'what rings true' isn't so simple." Rory said sarcastically.

"Valid point." Marianne allowed, pointing at him.

The TARDIS powered down suddenly, leaving them in virtually darkness. The only light was coming from the TARDIS itself.

"It's dead." Mari squeaked.

"We're in a dead time machine." The Doctor's voice sounded hollow and strained.

The birdsong returned. As the TARDIS darkened, Rory walked to Amy and hugged her tightly.

"Remember. This is real. But when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels." The Doctor told them, slinging his arm casually around Mari's shoulders.

"It is real. I know it's real." Amy nodded.

"OK. This is the real one. Definitely this one. It's all solid." Amy rubbed her stomach as the Doctor and Marianne were looking out for oddness in Upper Leadworth.

"It felt solid in the TARDIS too." Marianne called. "You can't spot a dream when you're having it."

Meanwhile, the Doctor was waving his fingers in front of his face.

"What are you doing?" Rory demanded.

"Looking for motion blur, pixilation. It could be a computer simulation. I don't think so, though." He admitted.

"Hello, Doctor." A woman said as she walked past, smiling happily at them all.

"Hi." The Doctor said nonchalantly, spinning frantically to find the speaker.

"Hello." Rory said. The elderly lady had actually been talking to him.

"You're a doctor." Marianne grinned.

"Yeah. And unlike him, I've actually passed some exams." Rory nodded.

"A doctor. Not a nurse. Just like you've always dreamed. Moving on." Marianne grinned, walking away and having the rest of Team TARDIS follow her.

"What?" Rory asked.

"Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby. Maybe this is your dream." The Doctor explained happily.

"It's Amy's dream too. Isn't it, Amy?" Rory asked.

"Yeah. Course it is, yes." Amy nodded unconvincingly. Marianne smiled awkwardly.

"What's that?" The Doctor asked, pointing over his shoulder at a house.

"Old people's home." Amy replied. The Doctor glanced at it to find all the residents pressed up to the window, staring at them.

"You said everyone here lives to their 90's. There's something here that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick." He told Mari, and they both bounded off.

"They haven't changed." Rory muttered to Amy as they followed.

"Can we not do the running thing?" Amy groaned as she tried to keep up. As they walked into the home and into the lounge, an elderly lady doing some knitting looked up.

"Hello, Rory. Love." The woman smiled.

"Hello, Mrs Poggit. How's your hip?" Rory asked kindly.

"A bit stiff." Mrs Poggit winced.

"Oh, easy. D-96 compound, plus... No, you don't have that yet. Never mind." The Doctor said as Mari elbowed him.

"Who are your friends? Junior doctors?" Mrs Poggit asked.

"Yes." Rory smirked.

"Can I borrow you?" She asked the Doctor, looking at him. "You look the size of my grandson."

The Doctor knelt as Mrs Poggit put a knitted jumper over his head.

"Fetching." Marianne joked.

"Slightly keen to move on." The Doctor flushed. "Freak psychic schism to sort out. You're incredibly old, aren't you?" He asked.

The residents watched as the birdsong began, and Team TARDIS fell to the floor, fast asleep.

They awoke leaning on the console.

"I hate this." Marianne grumbled.

"Doctor, stop it. Because this is definitely real, it's definitely this one. I keep saying that, don't I?" Amy realised.

"It's bloody cold." Rory noticed.

"The heating's off." The Doctor replied.

"The heating's off?" Rory demanded.

"Put on a jumper." Marianne advised. "That's what the Doctor does." She smirked.

"Yes, sorry about Mrs Poggit. She's so lovely though." Rory smiled.

"Oh, I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you." The Doctor grimaced.

"What do you mean- act?" Amy asked, pursing her lips.

"Everything's off. Sensors, core power." The Doctor grumbled as he messed with the console. "We're drifting. The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere. Someone, something, is overriding the controls." He explained.

A hologram of a man suddenly appeared at the top of the stairs. He was short, rotund and had a heavily receding hairline. He was dressed like the Doctor in a tweed jacket, striped shirt and bow tie.

"Well, that took a while." The hologram said. He walked down the steps. "Honestly, I've heard such good things. Last pair of Time Lords. The Oncoming Storm and his pretty little Bond." He said.

"Why does _everyone_ refer to me as little?" Marianne demanded, and not for the first time.

"How did you get into our TARDIS? What are you?" The Doctor demanded.

"What shall we call me?" The man mused. "Well, if you're Time Lords, let's call me the Dream Lord." He nodded.

"Nice look." Marianne called.

"This? No, I'm not convinced. Bow tie?" The Dream Lord asked, eyeing it up curiously. Marianne took a spanner from the console and launched it at the Dream Lord, but it went right through him.

"Interesting." The Doctor noted.

"I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord- it's in the name, isn't it? Spooky, not quite there." The Dream Lord said, disappearing. He then reappeared right behind them. "And yet, very much here." He spoke.

"We'll do the talking, thank you." The Doctor said. "Amy, what do you think that is?" He asked.

"Um. Dream Lord. Creates dreams." She said.

"Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks." Marianne listed.

"And what about the gooseberry here, does he not get a guess?" The Dream Lord eyed Rory up with disdain.

"Listen, mate, nobody's a gooseberry round here." Rory said angrily.

"There's a delusion I'm not responsible for." The Dream Lord smirked.

"No, I'm right, aren't I Amy?" Rory asked.

"Oh, Amy. Have to sort them out. Choose, maybe." The Dream Lord told her.

"I have chosen. Of course I've chosen." Amy said. Rory looked worried for a second, but without even taking her eyes from the Dream Lord, she smacked Rory's chest. "It's you, stupid." She told him. Rory sighed with relief.

"Oh, good. Thanks." He said.

"You can't fool me. I've seen your dreams. Some of them twice, Amy. Blimey, I'd blush if I had a real blood supply or a real face." The Dream Lord smirked. Marianne and Rory both froze.

"Where did you pick up the cheap cabaret act?" The Doctor asked without blinking an eye.

"Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground." The Dream Lord smirked.

"Am I?" The Doctor asked.

"If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student... I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog to match your cute little girlfriend." The Dream Lord smirked.

"I'm not little!" Marianne yelled.

"Anyway... Here's your challenge. Two worlds. Here in the time machine, and there in the village that time forgot. One is real, the other's fake. And just to make it more interesting you're going to face in both worlds a deadly danger. But only one of the dangers is real. Tweet, tweet. Time to sleep." The Dream Lord cooed as the group all fell to the floor, asleep. "Or are you waking up?" He then asked.

They woke up in the empty lounge of the residents home.

The Dream Lord entered dressed in a suit and holding an x-ray film. "Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad. Look at this. Your brain is completely see through. But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor." The Dream Lord teased.

"Always? What do you mean, always?" Marianne groaned.

"Now then, the prognosis is this." The Dream Lord said. "If you die in the dream you wake up in reality. Healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality?" The Dream Lord smirked.

"What happens?" Rory asked stupidly.

"You die, stupid. That's why it's called reality." The Dream Lord snorted.

"Have you met the Doctor and Marianne before? Do you know them? Doctor, does he?" Amy asked, confused.

"Now, don't get jealous. They've been around, have those two. Seen better things with other people. But never mind that. You've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you Time Lords. Take two and call me in the morning." The Dream Lord winked, before disappearing.

"OK, I don't like him." Rory grumbled.

"Who is he?" Amy demanded, crossing her arms.

"Don't know. Biiig universe." Marianne sighed, and Amy felt herself grow jealous. They'd been around, like the Dream Lord said. Were they pining for previous companions? She'd figured she'd been the first in a long time, but that wasn't the case, was it?

"Why is he doing this?" Amy asked.

"Maybe because he has no physical form. That gets you down after a while, so he's taking it out on folk like us who can touch and eat and feel." The Doctor mused. He stood and finally removed the awful jumper.

"What does he mean, deadly danger? Nothing deadly has happened here. A bit of natural wastage, obviously." Rory jinxed.

"They've all gone." The Doctor realised, referring to the old people. He ran from the room and the rest followed him. They ran out into the street to find children in the playground with a teacher. The Doctor watched the kids.

"Why would they leave?" Rory asked.

"And what did you mean about Mrs Poggit's act?" Amy remembered.

"One of my tawdry quirks, sniffing out things that aren't what they seem." The Doctor said. "So come on, let's think. The mechanics of this split we're stuck in. Time asleep matches time in our dream world, unlike in conventional dreams." He listed.

"Communal trance. Dreaming the same at the same time. Very rare, very complicated." Marianne continued.

"I'm sure there's a dream give-away. But my mind isn't working because this village is so dull!" He shouted. "I'm slowing down, like you two have.." He accused.

"Oh. Ow. Really. OW!" Amy suddenly screamed, grabbing her stomach and yelping in agony. "It's coming!" She screeched. Marianne froze.

"Help her, you're a doctor!" She yelled at Rory.

"He's a doctor!" Rory exclaimed, frantically pointing at the Doctor.

"It's OK, we're doctors." The Doctor reassured Amy unconvincingly. He bent down and held his hands out as if to catch the baby. "What do we do?" He asked.

"OK, it's not coming." Amy stopped panicking and smiled.

"What?" The Doctor demanded, standing up. Marianne sighed with relief.

"This is my life now and it just turned you white as a sheet. So don't you call it dull again, ever. OK?" Amy demanded angrily.

"Sorry." The Doctor said sheepishly, grabbing Marianne's hand as if he needed support from her. She patted him on the back.

"Yeah." Amy nodded, walking off and causing Rory to follow. The Doctor turned to the playground to find Mrs Poggit heading for the children. Amy walked over to swing and sat on it. Marianne took the other before the Doctor or Rory had the chance.

The Doctor glared at her, but Mari grinned up at him. He walked over to her and bent down so his face was inches from hers.

"Mari..." He whispered. She looked at him. "That's my seat." He then kissed her lightly on the mouth before picking her up and placing her, sitting, on the floor. He then took her seat.

Amy and Rory looked mildly disgusted but Marianne seemed shocked. She stood up and sat on his lap instead.

"Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room." The Doctor spoke up.

"I have to be this size, I'm having a baby." Amy refuted, frowning.

"No, no. The hormones are real, but no. Is nobody else going to mention that awful ponytail?" She asked, looking at Rory who shifted uncomfortably. A slow smile formed on her face.

"You hold him down, I'll cut it off." The Doctor told Marianne, and Amy laughed.

"This from the man with the bow tie." Rory sulked.

"Bow ties are cool." The Doctor said, nudging Marianne so that they both stood up. They watched as Mrs Poggit stood watching the children. "I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs Poggit as a babysitter. What's she doing? What does she want?" He asked as the old lady turned to face them instead.

The birdsong began again.

"Oh, no. Here we go." Amy sighed.

The Doctor and Marianne were stood at the console, deep in thought, when Rory and Amy joined them. Amy rubbed her arms.

"It's really cold." She complained. "Have you got any warm clothing?" She asked.

"What does it matter if we're cold? We have to know what she is up to." The Doctor snapped. "Sorry, sorry." He sighed, rubbing his face. Marianne kissed his cheek and ruffled his hair. He was getting stressed.

"There should be some stuff down there, have a look." She told Amy, who then went to look. With a strong and defiant zip of his hoodie, Rory followed.

The Doctor and Marianne followed so they were under the console. The Doctor opened a box with various gadgets inside.

"I want the other life. You know, where we're happy and settled and about to have a baby." Rory sighed.

"But don't you wonder, if that life is real, then why would we give up all this? Why would anyone?" Amy asked, away from earshot of the Time Lords.

"Because we're going to freeze to death?" Rory complained.

"The Doctor and Marianne will fix it." Amy promised, throwing a blanket to Rory.

"OK. Because we're going to get married?" Rory asked, wrapping Amy in the blanket instead. Amy laughed.

"But we can still get married. Some day." She giggled.

"You don't want to anymore? I thought you'd chosen me, not him. Not them." Rory said sadly.

"You are always so insecure." Amy muttered.

"You ran off with another man." Rory snapped.

"And his girlfriend." Amy reminded him. "And it's not in that way." She frowned.

"It's the night before our wedding." Rory argued.

"We're in a time machine. It's the night before our wedding for as long as we want." Amy sighed.

"We have to grow up eventually." Rory shouted.

"Says who?" Amy asked, wandering off to find more blankets. She then headed back to the console where the Doctor and Mari had both created a device out of kitchen appliances. Mari handed it to Rory.

"Rory, wind." She ordered. The Doctor handed Amy an attached wire.

"Amy, could you attach this to the monitor please." The Doctor asked.

"I was promised amazing worlds. Instead I get duff central heating and a weird, kitchen wind up device." Rory snapped peevishly.

"It's a generator." Marianne muttered. "Get winding." She told him with wide insistent eyes.

"It's not enough." Amy said.

"Rory, wind." The Doctor spoke up.

"You. Why is the Dream Lord picking on you? Why us?" Rory demanded as he wound the generator.

The monitor beeped to life and showed a star scape.

"Where are we?" Amy asked.

"We're in trouble." The Doctor groaned.

"What is that?" Rory asked, looking at the stars.

"A star. A cold star." Mari moaned. The Doctor ran to the doors and opened them, letting in blinding light.

"That's why we're freezing. It's not a malfunction. We're drifting towards a cold star. That's our danger for this version of reality." He said, closing the doors and looking back at the monitor.


	19. Chapter 18

"This must be the dream. There is no such thing as a cold star. Stars burn." Amy insisted, watching both Time Lords carefully, in case she was missing something.

"So is this one. It's just burning cold." Marianne said hollowly, staring at the screen.

"is that possible?" Rory asked.

"I can't know everything." The Doctor huffed. "Why does everyone expect us to, always?" He demanded, walking to the jump seat and sitting down dejectedly. Marianne joined him, her hand on his knee.

"OK, this is something you haven't seen does that mean this is the dream?" Rory asked simply.

"Don't know." Mari said. "But there it is, and we've got about 14 minutes until we crash into it. Not a problem." She sighed.

"Because you know how to get us out of this?" Rory asked worriedly.

"Because we'll have frozen to death." Marianne frowned at him as if he was stupid. Rory grimaced.

"Then what'll we do?" Amy refused to be put down. There must be something they could do, in her opinion.

"Stay calm. Don't get sucked into it, because this might just be the battle we have to lose." The Doctor explained calmly.

"Oh, this is so you, isn't it?" Rory suddenly snapped.

"Excuse me?" Marianne defended.

"What a weird new star, 14 minutes left to live and only two people to save the day. I just wanted a nice village and a family." He shouted. Amy looked awkwardly at the ground and Marianne looked hurt.

The Dream Lord suddenly appeared right in front of her and made her jump, but the Doctor grabbed her hand and pulled her back.

"Isn't that sweet? Amy, don't you agree?" The Dream Lord grinned nastily at Amy, who flushed. "A loving couple, Bonded spiritually. Only don't you wish it was you in her place." He whispered. Amy refused to reply. "Oh, dear. Doctor. Dissent in the ranks. There was an old doctor from Gallifrey, who ended up throwing his life away. He let down his friends and..." Birdsong sounded, stopping him from continuing with the poem. "Oh no. We've run out of time. Don't spend too long there, or you'll catch your death here." He grinned.

The Doctor and Marianne sprinted up the steps past the playground and into some old ruins beyond.

"Where have the children gone?" The Doctor demanded. The area that once had a group of children playing there was now empty, just full of piles of ash and clothing. The Doctor scanned them with his sonic.

"Don't know. Play time's probably over." Rory said, before turning to Amy. "You see, this is the real one. I just feel it. Don't you feel it?" He urged.

"I feel it both places." Amy shrugged. Marianne watched her, feeling sorry for the poor woman.

"I feel it here." Rory smiled, taking Amy's hands. "It's just so tranquil and relaxed. Nothing bad could ever happen here." He grinned.

"Don't put all your money on that, big guy." Marianne patted his shoulder as she walked past.

"Not really me though, is it?" Amy frowned. "Would I be happy settling down in a place with a pub, two shops and a really bad amateur dramatics society? That's why I got pregnant, so I don't have to see them doing Oklahoma." She smirked. Rory looked defeatedly at the ground. "You two, what're you doing? And what are those piles of dust?" She called over.

The Doctor picked some dust up and let it fall through his fingers. "Play time's definitely over." He said.

"Oh, my God." Amy realised.

"What happened to them?" Rory asked. The Doctor looked behind them all and into the village, where a bunch of elderly people were walking down the street.

"I think they did." Marianne explained, motioning at them.

"They're just old people." Amy insisted.

"No. They're very old people." The Doctor corrected, heading down the steps with Marianne. "Sorry, Rory, I don't think you're what's been keeping them alive." He explained.

The elderly lined up along the path facing the park. The Doctor, Marianne, Amy and Rory headed towards them when the Dream Lord stopped them once again.

"Hello, peasants. What's this, attack of the old people? Oh, that's ridiculous. This has got to be the dream, hasn't it? What do you think, Amy? Let's all jump under a bus and wake up in the TARDIS." The Dream Lord smiled, turning to the Doctor. "You first!" He grinned.

"Leave her alone." The Doctor fumed.

"Just leave her!" Rory added unconvincingly.

"Yes, you're not quite so impressive. But I know where your heart lies, don't I, Amy Pond?" The Dream Lord grinned.

"Shut up!" Amy snapped. "Just shut up and leave me alone." She warned.

"But listen, you could be in there. Loves a redhead, the Doctor!" The Dream Lord laughed.

"Drop it. I know who you are." Marianne shouted angrily.

"Course you don't." The Dream Lord grinned.

"Course I do. How could _I _ not know?" She guffawed. "No idea how you can be here, but there's only one person in the universe who hates him as much as you do." Mari pointed to the Doctor, who looked confusedly back at her.

"Never mind me!" The Dream Lord said. "Maybe you should worry about them." He said as the elderly began advancing on them all. Team TARDIS looked to the Dream Lord and then back to the residents.

"Hi." Rory said quietly.

"Hello. We were wondering where you went. To get reinforcements! Are you all right? You look a bit tense." The Doctor panicked, calling to the old people.

"Hello, Mr Nainby!" Rory exclaimed to a man.

"Rory..." Marianne trailed.

"Mr Nainby ran the sweet shop. He used to slip me the odd free toffee." Rory said, just as Mr Nainby picked Rory up by his collar. "Did I not say thank you?" He panicked, eyes wide as his feet were lifted purely into the air. Mr Nainby then threw Rory backwards and into the mud. "How did he do that?!" He demanded, standing up.

"I suspect he's not himself. Don't get comfortable here. You may have to run. Fast." The Doctor said quickly.

"Can't we just talk to them?!" Amy asked, really not wanting to run in her condition

The elderly opened their mouths to reveal an eye poking out. "There is an eye in her mouth!" Amy squeaked.

Marianne took her sonic screwdriver out and scanned the woman. "There's a whole creature inside her. Inside all of them. They've been there for years, living and waiting." She explained.

"That is disgusting." Rory grimaced. "They're not going to be peeping out of anywhere else, are they?" He asked. Marianne giggled, but tried to stop herself. The Doctor laughed loudly just before Mrs Poggit leaned forwards and shot green mist at them. Team TARDIS all jumped back, the Doctor shoving everyone behind him as he stood in front. Marianne moved herself so she was standing by his side, and he glared at her.

"Run!" Marianne yelled at Amy and Rory behind them.

"OK, leave them. Talk to me. Talk to us. You are Eknodines, a proud, ancient race. You're better than this. Why are you hiding away here? Why aren't you home?" The Doctor rambled.

"We were driven from our pl-" Mrs Poggit began saying.

"Planet by upstart neighbours." Marianne finished.

"So we've..." Mr Nainby continued.

"Been living here inside the bodies of old humans for... Years. No wonder they live so long, you're keeping them alive." The Doctor finished this time.

"We were humbled and destroyed. Now we will do the same to others." Mrs Poggit said.

"OK, makes sense, I suppose. Credible enough, could be real." The Doctor nodded. A younger man walked past the two of them, pushing his bike. Mrs Poggit shot mist at the man and he turned into dust.

"Yeah, you need to leave this planet." Marianne said darkly to Mrs Poggit. The creature within the old lady screamed at Mari, who didn't even blink.

The Doctor and Marianne practically sprinted away, stumbling up the road as the elderly began to advance. The birdsong was playing and they were both desperately fighting off sleep, eyes half closed, hands lightly clasped together as they ran together too. They stumbled into a butchers shop, Marianne slumped against her Bond as sleep almost took her.

The Dream Lord was dressed as a butcher, stood behind the counter.

"Oh, I love a good butchers, don't you? We've got to use these places or they'll shut down. But you're both probably vegetarians, aren't you? Especially you, you big flop-haired wuss." The Dream Lord grinned. The Doctor gently woke Mari up again and took a key from the shelf and tried to unlock a door leading into a different part of the ship.

"Oh, shut up. He's busy." Mari said as her eyes closed once more.

"He's keeping you up being busy. Bet he does that every night. Can't imagine he's exciting in bed." The Dream Lord laughed, and Marianne shushed him by putting her finger to her lips. "Maybe you need a little sleep." He then said.

The birdsong returned and they both slumped to the floor.

"Oh, wait a moment." He said, and they both woke up again. They shakily stood up. "If you fall asleep here, several dozen angry pensioners will destroy you with their horrible eye things." The Dream Lord reminded them both. The Doctor pulled Mari with him into the hall behind the counter. "Fingers in the ears?" He asked as they both shoved their fingers in their eyes to keep out the birdsong. "Brilliant! What's next, shouting boo?" He asked as Marianne practically slid to the floor, sleeping once more.

The Dream Lord turned to the door where the elderly were waiting outside."Come in." He gestured to them.

The pensioners made their way to the counter and crowded it. "Yes, we've got lots at steak here this week. Lots at steak. Get it?" The Dream Lord asked, turning to the Doctor. He saw that they were nearly walking up to the sleeping Marianne. He willed himself a burst of energy. He picked her up and stumbled further down the corridor. He made his way to the freezer but fell to the ground before he could get it. He looked sorrowfully at the sleeping Mari, who'd be dead soon if he didn't hurry u.

"Wait, stop..." The Doctor begged. The Doctor reached into his pocket.

"Oh, I can't watch." The Dream Lord said dramatically.

The Doctor stood back up with effort, still carrying Marianne. He used his sonic on the door. He stumbled into the large freezer and locked the door behind him before allowing himself to join Marianne in sleep.

He awoke to found Marianne holding him tightly, with various blankets wrapped around them both. The TARDIS was colder.

He looked to his right to find Amy and Rory doing the same thing as Mari and the Doctor.

"Ah, it's colder." Amy complained, clutching their blanket tighter.

"The four of us have to agree now, which is the dream." The Doctor asked, wrapping his arms around Mari too to keep her warmer.

"It's this, here." Rory insisted.

"No, no. Ice can burn, sofa's can read, it's a big universe." The Doctor refuted. "We have to agree which battle to lose. All of us, now."

"OK, which world do you think is real?" Amy asked Marianne.

"This one." She claimed.

"No, the other one!" Rory cried.

"Yeah, but are we disagreeing or competing?" The Doctor demanded.

"Competing over what?" Amy asked. Marianne looked pointedly at her and she blushed. She groaned and stood up.

"Rory, you don't have to compete for anything. If you can't see that I'd die before leaving Marianne, then you're blind. Nine minutes 'til impact." He said. He stood and waited for Mari to do the same before walking to the console with her.

"What temperature is it?" Amy asked.

"Outside? Brr. How many noughts you got? I don't know but I can't feel my feet... And other parts." He said uncomfortably. Marianne grinned at him, and he kissed the tip of her nose.

"I think all my parts are basically fine." Rory shrugged.

"Stop competing!" Marianne roared.

"Can't we call for help?" Rory asked, gesturing to the phone. The Doctor picked the phone up.

"Yeah, the universe is really small. Bound to be someone nearby!" He exclaimed sarcastically, tapping Rory on the head with it before hanging up.

"Put these on." Amy said, throwing blankets that she'd edited at everyone. They all slipped them on.

"Oh, a poncho. The biggest crime against fashion since lederhosen." Rory sighed.

"Since your ponytail." Marianne corrected. The Doctor guffawed and high fived her. Amy covered her smirk with her hand.

"Here we go!" She laughed. "My guys. My poncho guys." She said, slinging her arms around Marianne and the Doctor. Rory looked sadly at them. "If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band." She laughed.

She then ruffled Rory's hair, and he smiled.

"We're not going to die." He told her.

"No, we're not." Mari agreed, checking the Doctor's watch. "But our time is running out. If we fall asleep here, we're in trouble." She shrugged.

"If we could divide up, then we'd have an active presence in each world, but the Dream Lord is switching us between the worlds. Why- what's the logic?" The Doctor mused.

"Good idea, veggie." The Dream Lord said, appearing in a poncho. "Let's divide you four up, so I can have a chat with our lovely companion. Maybe I'll keep her, and you two can have Pointy Nose to yourself for all eternity, should you manage to clamber aboard some sort of reality." The Dream Lord snorted. The birdsong began again.

"Can you hear that?" Marianne asked Amy.

"What? No." Amy panicked.

"Amy, don't be scared, we'll be back." The Doctor promised, as he, Mari and Rory fell asleep to the floor.

"Don't leave me." Amy begged.

"Amy, we're going to have fun aren't we?" The Dream Lord laughed.

"No, please, not alone." She whimpered.

The Doctor and Mari awoke in the freezer.

"What?" Marianne demanded, confused. She turned to the Doctor who shrugged.

"It was this or death!" He told her. She shrugged. Outside, the pensioners were waiting, the aliens screaming from their mouths. The Doctor took out his sonic.

"OK, where is it?" He asked, opening the door and shooting the above light. They both sprinted from the butchers amidst the confusion the Doctor had caused.

They sprinted away, really focusing on running and finding Rory, who'd have a sleeping Amy with him.

A pensioner was attacking a man in a VW bus.

"Oh, help!" The young man yelled.

"You couldn't live near the shops, could you?" He asked as he eyed up the distance to the car. They both raced to the bus, pushed the pensioner aside and clambered into the drivers seat. "It's okay. It's only us." The Doctor grinned as Mari climbed over to him to sit in the seat next to the Doctor.

The Doctor began to drive them through the village where they spotted two young women surrounded by pensioners. Mari slid the back door open to let them in.

"Get in, get in!" She yelled. The women hurriedly climbed into the van and shut the door.

"Are we in?!" The Doctor called. He continued driving until he saw a young family. "Come on, let's go, quickly, all four. That's everyone in." He said as the family got in too.

"Poor Amy. They always leave you, don't they? Alone in the dark. Never apologise." The Dream Lord cooed.

"They don't have to." Amy insisted.

"Who are you and what do you want? Marianne knows you, but she's not telling me who you are. And she always does. Takes her awhile sometimes, but she tells me. So you're something different." Amy reasoned.

"Oh, is this who you think you are? The one he and she both trust?" The Dream Lord snorted.

"Actually, yes." Amy nodded.

"The one girl in the universe they will tell everything?" The Doctor asked.

"Yes." She nodded again.

"Did you know that they travelled with a young lady called Martha Jones, who was also Marianne's best friend? Did you know they travelled with the singular most important lady in the history of time, who Marianne was also close to. Do you know why she was close to her? She didn't fawn over her Bond. She was their friend and nothing more. But you want more, don't you? Well. What's his name?" The Dream Lord rambled before asking her that one question. He disappeared and reappeared dressed in tweed. "Marianne knows, but do you?" He asked. Amy glared at him.

He ducked down to the Doctor and Marianne, who were led together. And then he looked at Rory, on his own. "Now, which one of these would you really choose? Look at them. You ran away with a handsome hero and his one true love. Would you really give them up for a bumbling country doctor who thinks the only thing he needs to be interesting is a ponytail?" The Dream Lord asked.

"Stop it!" Amy yelled.

"But maybe it's better than loving and losing the Doctor." The Dream Lord smirked. "Pick a world and this nightmare will all be over." He said, standing between the three unconscious people. He then disappeared.

Amy watched all three people carefully, caught between two choices.

The Doctor pulled the bus up at the front of the church and moved everyone inside.

"Everybody out, out! Into the church, that's right. Don't answer the door." He advised.

The Doctor then drove he and Marianne out of the village and towards Amy and Rory's cottage.

The Dream Lord appeared in the back seat wearing a race car drivers suit with a helmet on his lap.

"It's make your mind up time in both worlds." The Dream Lord said.

"But I need to find our friends." The Doctor insisted.

"Friends? Is that the right word for the people you acquire? Friends are people you stay in touch with. Your friends never see you again once they've grown up. The old couple prefer the company of the young, don't they?" The Dream Lord asked, aware that he was annoying Marianne more than the Doctor this time. He then disappeared.

The Doctor continued driving to the cottage where they saw an elderly couple waiting to attack intruders.

"OK.." The Doctor said, getting out and ducking behind the bus. Marianne did the same, the both of them looking for a way in.

Rory and the now awake Amy looked up from the nursery floor they were sat on to find the Doctor clambering through the window, with Marianne behind him.

"It's all right, we had to stop off at the butchers." He said, and they both fell to the nursery floor.

"What are we going to do?" Rory asked.

"I don't know. I though the freezing TARDIS was real but now I'm not so sure." The Doctor explained.

"I think the baby's starting." Amy suddenly gasped.

"Honestly?" Rory asked, wary of her tricks.

"Would I make it up at a time like this?!" She demanded.

"Well, you do have a history of..." Rory trailed, before her glare cut him off. "Being very lovely." He said as Amy screamed in agony. "Why are they do desperate to kill us?" He asked.

"They're scared. Fear generates savagery." Marianne explained. A piece of garden statuary was thrown into the room. She went to have a look out the window and Mrs Poggit shot the green mist at her.

She cried out and fell back, falling to the floor. Rory went to whack her with a lamp to get away from the window but was also got gassed.

"Marianne!" The Doctor yelled, cradling her head on the floor as she winced in pain.

"Rory!" Amy screeched, going to comfort her fallen man.

"No getting out of this one." Marianne laughed, with tears in her eyes at the Doctor, who looked sadly but resolutely down at her. "You know what to do. No point saying goodbyes. We're either going to Hell or going to the TARDIS." She shrugged. The Doctor nodded in agreement.

"Can't live without you. Not willing to try." He said, pressing his lips to her forehead.

"No, I'm not ready!" Rory yelled, as he began to dissolve too.

"Stay." Amy begged.

"Look after our baby." Rory begged, as both he and Mari dissolved.

"No. No. Come back." Amy said, angrily and quietly, tears streaming from her eyes. The Doctor was also crying, but he knew what they had to do.

"Save him. You save everyone. You always do. It's what you do." She spat at him.

"Come on." The Doctor said, trying not to let his emotions get to him. He knew that in moments he'd either be dead, or with her again. Either way it didn't matter. He'd be getting rid of the pain, and he knew Amy would be thinking the exact same thing.

"What's the point of you?" Amy yelled at him as he pulled her away from 'Rory.'

"I can't save them." The Doctor said, his voice cracking. "Unless we just die." He told her. "And I intend to." He explained. "I meant it when I said I'd rather die than be without her because this is agony. Unbearable. And I know you feel the same." He told her calmly, tears sliding down her face.

"Either way, this is our only chance of seeing them again. This is the dream." Amy agreed.

"If this is real life. I don't want it." The Doctor concluded, taking his shaking friends hand for strength.

They left the house hand in hand, but the elderly did nothing. They both had silent tears streaming down their faces.

"Why aren't they attacking?" Amy asked.

"Either because this is just a dream, or because they know what we're about to do." The Doctor explained. They both walked to the bus, neither of them stopping.

"Come on." Amy said bravely, getting into the drivers seat. The Doctor got in the passenger seat. The Dream Lord stood, watching them.

"I love Rory, and I never told him, and now he's gone." Amy cried. The Doctor looked through the window at the Dream Lord as Amy drove the car forwards, smashing into her cottage and killing them both instantly.

A thick layer of ice was covering everything in the TARDIS, including the four bodies led on the floor. The Doctor opened his eyes and Amy slowly opened hers. Now awake, they both clasped hands with their significant other.

"So... You chose this world. Well done. You got it right. And with only seconds left. Fair's fair. Let's warm you up." The Dream Lord said, restoring the power in the TARDIS. "I hope you've enjoyed your little fictions. It all came out of your imagination, so I'll leave you to ponder on that. I have been defeated. I shall withdraw. Farewell." He said, before disappearing.

The Doctor slowly turned to face Marianne, who was smiling at him. He kissed her, his hands moving to the back of her head and knotting in her curls. She wrapped her cold arms around his neck to bring him closer to her.

"Glad we sorted this one out." She muttered between kisses. They eventually stopped and resulted in simply holding each other.

Meanwhile, Amy and Rory knelt, facing each other. "Something happened. What happened to me?" Rory asked, as Amy hugged him too. "Oh. Oh right. This is good. I am liking this. Was it something I said? Can you tell me what it was so I can use it in emergencies? And maybe birthdays." Rory struggled for words as Amy let him go.

They both turned to find the Doctor and Marianne at the console, flipping switches furiously.

"What are we doing now?" Amy asked.

"We're going to blow up the TARDIS." Marianne explained.

"What?" Rory demanded.

"Notice how helpful the Dream Lord was? Okay, there was misinformation, red herrings, malice, and I could have done without the limerick, but he was always very keen to make us choose between dream and reality." The Doctor laughed.

"What are you doing?!" Amy yelled

"Doctor! The Dream Lord conceded. This isn't the dream!" Rory shouted.

"Yes, it is." Marianne grinned.

"Stop them." Amy told Rory.

"Star burning cold. Do me a favour! The Dream Lord has no power over the real world. He was offering us a choice between two dreams." The Doctor explained.

"How do you know that?" Amy asked.

"Because I know who he is." Mari smiled.

The TARDIS suddenly exploded and everything turned to black.

TARDIS returned to normal, no ice, no cold damage. The same condition as they left it in.

"Any questions?" The Doctor asked as Amy and Rory walked into the console room. He and Mari were leaning against the console, peering at something in the Doctor's hand.

"What's that?" Amy asked. Six glittering bits were in the Doctor's hand.

"A speck of psychic pollen from the candle meadows of Karass don Slava. Must have been hanging around for ages. Fell into the time rotor, heated up and induced a dream state for all of us." The Doctor explained, going to the door and blowing them into space.

"So was that the Dream Lord then, those specks?" Rory asked.

"No. Sorry, wasn't it obvious?" Marianne asked. "The Dream Lord was the Doctor. Psychic pollen, it's a mind parasite. It feeds on everything dark in you. Give it a voice, turns it against you. 907, it had a lot to go on." Marianne smiled fondly at the Doctor.

"But then why didn't it feed on us, too?" Amy asked.

"Darkness in you? It wouldn't starved to death in an instant. I choose my friends with the greatest care. Otherwise I'm stuck with just her company. And you know how that works out." He said, pointing at Marianne and winking.

They all looked mildly disgusted.

"But those things he said about you. You don't think any of that's true?" Amy asked, frowning. If he did, they had something to worry about.

"Amelia, right now a question is about to occur to Rory." Marianne said, saving the Doctor from answering the question. "And seeing as the answer is about to change his life, I think you should give him your full attention." She smiled, pushing Rory forwards.

"Yeah. Actually, yeah." Rory nodded.

"There it is." Mari nodded.

"Cos what I don't get is you blew up the TARDIS, that stopped the dream, but what stopped the Leadworth dream?"

"We crashed the camper van." Amy said simply.

"Oh, right. I don't remember that bit." Rory said stupidly.

"No. You weren't there, or Mari. You were already..." Amy trailed.

"Already what?" Rory asked.

"Dead." Amy said. "You and Marianne died in that dream. Mrs Poggit got you." She explained.

"OK. But how did you know it was a dream? Before you crashed the van, how did you know you wouldn't just die?" Rory then asked.

"I didn't." Amy smirked.

"Oh." Rory realised.

"Yeah." Amy grinned.

"Oh." He said again, taking her hand.

"Yeah, oh." Amy laughed.

Rory leaned in and quickly kissed her. After a pause, Amy kissed him back.

The Doctor and Marianne both smiled and looked at each other.

"So. Well then, where now? Or should we just pop down to the swimming pool for a few lengths?" The Doctor asked awkwardly.

"I don't know. Anywhere's good for me. I'm happy anywhere. It's up to Amy this time. Amy's choice." Rory grinned happily.

Such a powerful episode! -Fay x


	20. Chapter 19

"Amelia, I have something to tell you. Something big." Marianne whispered to Amy, as the girls sat in the library on their own.

"What is it?" Amy asked, not yet understanding the enormity of what Marianne was about to tell her.

"Rio!" Marianne yelled, crashing the TARDIS doors open and running outside, followed by her crazy Bond. Amy followed, laughing. Like Marianne, she was dressed for Rio in shorts and a t shirt with her flying jacket, while Mari wore a short dress. Rory came out last.

When he looked at his comrades, their faces had fallen from smiles to frowns and glares. The Doctor had flown them to the wrong place. Again.

They were stood in a cemetery, in what was obviously England.

"Nuh-uh." Amy stressed, folding her arms and glaring at the aliens.

"Not really getting the sunshine carnival vibe." Rory sighed.

"No." The Doctor agreed, walking forwards. "Oh, feel that., though, what's that?" He asked, and motioned for Mari to follow him. She begrudgingly did so, but was surprised when she did join him. They both bounced up and down on the tarmac ground.

"Ground feels strange. That's weird." She told him.

"What's weird?" Rory frowned.

"Doctor, stop trying to distract us. We're in the wrong place." Amy groaned, and the Doctor ran to the other side of the church they were situated at, while the three others followed. "Doctor, it's freezing and I'm dressed for Rio. We are not stopping here." Amy lectured as the Doctor plucked some grass. "Doctor! You listening to me?! It's a graveyard! You promised me and Marianne a beach." She hissed.

"Blue grass." The Doctor told Marianne. "Patches of it all around the graveyard. So, Earth, 2020-ish, ten years in your future, wrong continent for Rio, I'll admit, but it's not a massive overshot." The Doctor rambled, shrugging sadly.

Amy then noticed two people waving from the top of a hill. They were waving down at them all.

"Why are those people waving at us?" Amy asked, freaked out.

"Can't be." Marianne breathed. Rory started to wave back but Amy grabbed him arm to stop him, and Rory looked sheepishly at his fiancee. Marianne took some binoculars from the Doctor's pocket and looked through them at the people on the hill.

"It is!" Marianne laughed. "It's you two." She pointed at Amy and Rory and laughed.

"No, we're here. How can we be up there?" Rory asked, not yet on friendly terms with the concept of time and it's wibbly-wobbly-ness.

"Ten years in your future. Come to relive past glories, I'd imagine. Ah, humans. So nostalgic." Marianne said, slapping the binoculars on Rory's chest and twirling to the Doctor, who was still looking at the grass. She kissed his cheek quickly and began to look around the graveyard.

"We're still together in ten years?!" Amy exclaimed, surprised.

"No need to sound so surprised!" Rory replied, a hurt look on his face.

"Hey, let's go and talk to them! We can say hi to future us! How cool is that?" Amy laughed, taking Rory by the arm and intending to pull him away.

"No, best not, actually." The Doctor finally interjected, looking up from the grass to address the friends. "These things get complicated very quickly and... OH! Look! Big mining thing. Oh, I love a big mining thing. See, way better than Rio! Rio doesn't have a big mining thing." The Doctor stuck up for himself.

"Rio is nearer to the equator!" Mari hissed, as they began to head down into the valley to see the big mining thing.

"We're not going to have a look, are we?" Amy sighed.

"Let's go and have a look!" The Doctor exclaimed. "Come on, let's see what they're doing." He urged.

"If he can't get us to Rio, how's he ever going to get us back home?" Rory quietly asked Amy.

"Did you not see, over there? It all works out fine." Amy assured the worrier.

"After everything we've seen, we just drop back into our old lives, the nurse and the kissogram?"  
Rory asked incredulously.

"I guess. They're getting away." Amy told Rory, and she took Rory by the arm.

"Hang on. What are you doing with that?" He asked, pointing to her engagement ring.

"Engagement ring! I thought you liked me wearing it." Amy pouted.

"Amy! You could lose it! Cost... A lot of money that!" Rory choked.

"Hm." Amy frowned, handing it over. "Spoilsport." She joked.

"Go on. I'll catch you three up." Rory said, heading back to the TARDIS with the ring.

"Doctor! Mari!" Amy yelled as she ran to catch up with them.

When Amy caught up with them, the Doctor was sonicking a gate to enter the drill site.

"That is breaking and entering." Marianne teased.

"What did I break?!" The Doctor grinned down at her. "Sonicking and entering. Totally different." He nodded, opening the gate and allowing her to walk through first. He then let Pond go, before following himself.

"You sure Rory'll catch us up?" Marianne asked.

They all walked through the hall in the drill station.

"What about now, can you feel it now?" The Doctor questioned Amy, looking at her.

"Honestly, I've got no idea what you're both going on about." Amy said, sighing.

"The ground doesn't feel like it should." Marianne explained, linking her arm through the Doctor's as they walked through the chilly place.

"It's ten years in the future, maybe this is how the ground feels and how it always feels." Amy shrugged, nonplussed.

"Good thought! But no. It doesn't." The Doctor patted her on the head as they heard a whirring sound strike up.

"Drill in start-up mode." Marianne nodded upon hearing it. "Afterwaves of a recent seismological shift and blue grass."

The Doctor unlinked their arms so that he could eat some of the blue grass. Both of the girls scrunched their nose up in disgust. He then made a face himself and pulled it from his tongue.

"Oh, please!" Amy laughed. "Have you always been this disgusting?" She asked him.

"No, that's recent." The Doctor said. Marianne snorted.

"As if. Remember when you ate that sand of dead people? And when you used to lick absolutely everything to test it? This is not recent." She raised her eyebrows at him and he nodded as an allowance.

"Quite right. I stand corrected." He bowed to her and Amy laughed at them both.

As the trio walked into a main office type room, a woman looked astounded.

"Hello!" The Doctor exclaimed cheerfully.

"Who are you? What're you doing here? And what're you wearing?" She asked, eyeing up Amy and Marianne's clothes.

"We dressed for Rio!" Amy sighed, slinging her arm around Marianne as they walked further into the room.

"Ministry of Drills, Earth and Science." The Doctor showed the lady his psychic paper. "New Ministry, quite big, just merged, lot of responsibility on our shoulders, don't like to talk about it. What're you doing?" The Doctor asked her.

"None of your business." The woman refuted. The Doctor and Mari walked to a bunch of monitors where the woman was standing.

"Where are you getting these readings from?" Marianne asked, bending over to look.

"Under the soil." The woman explained, moving equipment away from a small hole in the ground of soil. An older man joined them in the room.

"The drill's up and running again. What's going on? Who are these people?" The man asked his co-worker.

"Amy, Marianne, the Doctor." Amy introduced. "We're not staying, are we?" Amy asked, mouthing the word 'Rio' to Marianne, who sighed and shrugged in return.

"Why's there a big patch of earth in the middle of your floor?" The Doctor asked, referring to the hole that the woman had been moving equipment from.

"We don't know, it just appeared overnight." The woman sighed, glancing at it with suspicion.

Amy walked closer to it and peered into the ground.

"Good, right, you all need to get out of here very fast." The Doctor told them all, walking to a monitor.

"Why?" The woman frowned.

"What's your name?" Marianne spoke up.

"Nasreen Chaudhry." Nasreen replied.

"Look at the screens, Nasreen, your readings. It's moving." Mari told her.

"What is?" She demanded, shocked. Steam began to rise from the hole in the ground at an alarming rate.

"Doctor, this steam, is that a good thing?" Amy called.

"Shouldn't think so." The Doctor told her, looking over his shoulder at her. "It's shifting when it shouldn't be shifting." He explained.

"What shouldn't?" Nasreen was getting more and more irate. The ground began to shake very hard and they struggled to stay stable.

"The ground, the soil, the earth, moving, but how?" The Doctor rambled. "Why?" He ran back to the monitors.

"Earthquake?" Amy suggested.

"Doubt it." Marianne made her way to the Doctor. "It's only happening under this room." She breathed.

More holes began to quickly form as the ground subsided beneath their feet.

"It knows we're here. The ground's attacking us." The Doctor explained.

"No, that's not possible!" Nasreen cried.

"Under the circumstances, I suggest... RUN!" The Doctor yelled, grabbing Marianne's hand and Nasreen's too,and running for the door. The other man, Tony, tried to follow but was trapped by a newly formed hole. Amy stopped.

"Tony!" Nasreen cried.

"Stay back Amy! Stay away from the Earth!" Marianne urged. Amy nodded and smiled, but jumped over a hole to help Tony.

"It's OK." Amy assured him. The ground suddenly opened underneath Amy and she fell into it, trapped by her feet.

"It's pulling me down!" She cried. The Doctor and Marianne had no pause before sprinting off to help her.

"Amy!" The Doctor shouted.

"Help me! Something's got me!" She screeched. Marianne was the first there and she bent down, grabbing her hands and using all of her strength to keep her up.

"Will you please be careful." Amy hissed.

"I think I need to be worrying about you before me!" Marianne retorted, huffing as she tried to pull Amy up.

The Doctor helped Marianne by grabbing one of Amy's hands, and Mari the other.

"The ground's got my legs." Amy whimpered, sinking to her waist.

"We've got you." The Doctor assured her. Amy nodded, relaxing slightly.

"Don't let go." She urged.

"Never." Marianne hissed.

"What is it, what's doing this?" Amy asked, tears forming in her eyes.

"Stay calm, keep hold of our hands, don't let go. Your drill, shut it down. Now!" Marianne yelled as Nasreen and Tony behind her. They nodded and ran into the control room.

"Can you get me out?" Amy squeaked.

"Amy, try and stay calm. If you struggle, it'll make things worse. Keep hold of our hands." The Doctor assured her calmly.

"We're not going to let you go." Marianne promised her. Amy's arm slipped slightly, but they soon got a better grip of her, both Time Lords thoroughly pulling on her hands. She sunk even lower into the soil.

"It's pulling me, something's pulling me!" She cried, eyes wide.

"Stay calm. Hold on, if they can just shut down the drill..." The Doctor was becoming less and less calm.

"I can't hold on!" Amy cried. All that was showing of her was her arms and head. They were both straining to hold onto her.

"What's pulling me? What is under the earth? I don't want to suffocate under there." Amy cried, terrified.

"Concentrate. Don't give up!" Marianne told her.

"Tell Rory..." Amy trailed.

"No. Amy!" The Doctor yelled as she sank even lower and was finally pulled into the earth. They both scrabbled through the dirt to try and find her hand or anything to hold onto.

"Amelia!" Marianne yelled loudly, and they both got their sonic screwdrivers out to scan the ground. Nasreen and Tony both ran in from the control room.

"Where is she?" Nasreen asked.

"She's gone. The ground took her." Marianne said shakily, standing up and covering her mouth with her hands.

"Is that what happened to Mo? Are they dead?" Tony asked quietly.

"It's not quicksand." The Doctor paced. "She didn't just sink- something pulled her in, it wanted her." The Doctor reasoned, and Marianne nodded. There was hope that she was alive- and the other man too.

"The ground wanted her?" Nasreen asked.

"You said the ground was dormant, just a patch of earth, when you first saw it this morning. And the drill had been stopped." Marianne spoke up.

"That's right." Tony nodded.

"But when you re-started the drill, the ground fought back." Marianne continued.

"So what- the ground wants us to stop drilling? Marianne, this is ridiculous." Nasreen refuted, shaking her head and shrugging.

The Doctor used his sonic on the ground and it began to vibrate.

"She's not saying that." He stood up for Marianne. "And she's not ridiculous, I agree with her, I just don't think it's right. Oh! Of course, it's bio-programming!" He realised, and Marianne nodded.

"What?!" Nasreen exclaimed.

"Bio-programming!" The Doctor nodded. "Oh, clever." He clapped. "You use bio-signals to resonate the internal molecular structure of natural objects! It's mainly used in engineering and construction, mostly jungle planets, but that's way in the future, and not here. What's it doing here?" The Doctor asked, pacing again.

"Sorry, did you just say jungle planets?" Nasreen demanded.

"You're not making any sense!" Tony exclaimed.

"He's making perfect sense, you're just not keeping up." Marianne stuck up for him, arms crossed. "The earth, the ground beneath our feet, was bio-programmed to attack." She explained in simpler terms.

"Yeah, even if that were possible, which, by the way, it's not - why?" Nasreen asked.

"Stop you drilling!" The Doctor exclaimed. "We find what's doing the bio-programming, find Amy, get her back. Shhh! Have I gone mad? Marianne, have I gone mad?" The Doctor turned to her.

"No, darling." She assured him, hearing it too.

"Doctor." Nasreen tried to say.

"Silence! Absolute silence! You stopped the drill, right?" He asked Nasreen and Tony.

"Yes!" Nasreen hissed.

"And you've only got the one drill?" Marianne then asked.

"Yes!" Nasreen said again.

"You're sure about that?" The Doctor then asked.

"Yes." Tony sighed. The Doctor lied flat on his stomach next to the hole, listening, as a whirring sound could be heard.

"So if you shut the drill down- why can we still hear drilling? It's under the ground." The Doctor asked.

"That's not possible." Tony breathed. The Doctor stood up once more and rushed to the machinery, using the sonic on them.

"What are you doing?" Nasreen sighed.

"He's hacking into your records. Reports, samples, sensors.." Marianne said as she read over his shoulder.

"Good, just unite the data, make it all one big conversation, let's have a look. So. We are here and this is your drill hole." He showed on the screen. "21.009 kilometres. Well done!" He smiled at them.

"Thank you. It's taken us a long time." Nasreen said proudly.

"Why here, though? Why drill on this site?" The Doctor asked.

"We found patches of grass in this area, containing trace minerals unseen in this country for 20 million years." Nasreen explained happily.

"The blue grass?" Marianne asked. "Oh, Nasreen, those trace minerals we're X marking the spot, saying dig here. They were a warning. Stay away. Because while you've been drilling down, somebody else has been drilling up." She explained wryly, smirking slightly.

The Doctor pulled up a screen on one of the monitors showing a vertical network of tunnels.

"Oh, beautiful. Network of tunnels all the way down." He said.

"No, no, we've surveyed that area." Tony spoke up.

"You only saw what you went looking for." The Doctor refuted.

"What are they?" Nasreen asked, pointing to the bottom of the screen were something was registering.

"Heat signals. Wait, dual readings, hot and cold, doesn't make sense." Marianne explained. "And now they're moving. Fast. How many people live nearby?" She asked Tony.

"Just my daughter and her family. The rest of the staff travel in." Tony replied.

"Grab this equipment and follow us." The Doctor said, heading for the door, with Marianne by his side.

"Why? What're we doing?" Nasreen called after them both.

The Doctor and Marianne stopped and turned around. "That noise isn't a drill. It's transport. Three of them, 30km down, rate of speed looks about 150km an hour. Should be here in... Oh, quite soon. 12 minutes." He calculated, picking up one of the computers. "Whatever bio-programmed the earth is on its way up, now." He said, motioning for Marianne to follow.

Tony grabbed another computer, while Marianne carried a bunch of small devices and wires. Nasreen wheeled a wheelbarrow of equipment.

"How can something be coming up when there's only the Earth's crust down there?" Tony huffed as they carried the heavy equipment.

"You saw the readings!" Mari exclaimed.

"Who are you both, anyway? How can you know all this?" Nasreen frowned. There was suddenly a whirring noise and a red light shot across the sky.

"Whoa, did you see that?" She breathed.

"That's not good." Marianne frowned.

"No, no, no!" The Doctor yelled.

He took a slingshot from his 'bigger-on-the-inside' pockets, picked up a rock from the floor and shot it at the sky. It hit a red force field, and red light struck out at the impact. Marianne took our her sonic and aimed it at the sky, revealing a red field surrounding the village and the drill site only, covering them like a bubble.

"Energy signal originating from under the Earth. We're trapped." The Doctor explained. Rory suddenly joined them, followed by a young boy and his mother.

"Doctor! Something weird's going on here. The graves are eating people." Rory called over.

"Not now, Rory!" Marianne chided.

"Energy barricade. Invisible to the naked eye. We can't get out and no-one from the outside world can get in." The Doctor continued.

"What?!" Rory yelled. "What about the TARDIS?"

"The what?" Nasreen frowned.

"No, those energy patterns would play havoc with the circuits. With a bit of time, maybe, but we've only got nine and a half minutes." The Doctor checked his watch and shrugged.

"Nine and a half minutes to what?" Rory frowned. He'd missed a lot of the action.

"We're trapped." Nasreen explained. "And something's burrowing towards the surface."

"Where's Amy?" Rory suddenly realised, looking around. When he didn't see her, he glared at the Doctor because he knew something had happened to her.

"Get everyone inside the church." Marianne told everyone quietly. The Doctor picked up the computer he'd been carrying in.

"Rory, I'll get her back." He promised.

"What d'you mean, get her back? Where's she gone?" Rory demanded.

"She was taken. Into the Earth." Marianne explained gently.

"How?!" Rory yelled. "Why didn't you stop it?!"

"We tried. I promise, we tried." Marianne nodded.

"Well, you should've tried harder!" Rory cried.

"We'll find Amy, and I'll keep you all safe. I promise." The Doctor said, looking especially at Marianne when he said that, but she didn't notice. "Come on, please. I need you with us." He told Rory. He picked up a case and they walked into the church.

Tony tried to open the door to the church.

"Where's Mo? Is he with you?" The woman, Ambrose, asked. Her husband was Mo.

"This flaming door! Always sticking! I thought you were having it fixed!" Tony spat, trying to pull it open.

"Dad!" Ambrose yelled.

"Something's happened to him, hasn't it?" The young boy, Elliot, asked.

Tony finally pushed the door open to reveal a church in the state of disrepair, with boxes and crates cluttering everywhere. The Doctor, Marianne, Nasreen and Tony set up the equipment while Rory sulked at the side of them.

"So, we can't get out, we can't contact anyone. And something, the something that took my husband, is coming up through the Earth." Ambrose recalled what had been told to her.

"Yes. If we move quickly, we can be ready." Marianne called, sick of the constant questions that woman had been sending them.

"No, stop." Ambrose said. "This has gone far enough. What is this?" She demanded.

"They're telling the truth, love." Tony nodded.

"Come on! It's not the first time we've had no mobile or phone signals. Reception's always rubbish." Ambrose reasoned. Elliot looked at her oddly.

"Look, Ambrose, we saw the Doctor's friend get taken, okay? You saw the lightning in the sky. I have seen the impossible today, and the only people who've made any sense of it, for me, is the Doctor and Marianne." Nasreen ranted.

"Them?!" Ambrose yelled.

"Yes." Marianne said, looking up.

"Can you get my dad back?" Elliot asked the Doctor. Everyone turned to him.

"Yes." He promised, walking to Ambrose. "But I need you to trust me and Marianne and do exactly as either of us say from this second onwards because we're running out of time." He said.

"So tell us what to do." Ambrose nodded.

"Thank you." Marianne called. "We have eight minutes to set up a line of defence. Bring us every phone, camera, every piece of recording or transmitting equipment you can find." She ordered. "Every burglar alarm, every movement sensor, every security light. I want the whole area covered with sensors." Ambrose and Rory wandered round, connecting cameras at every position they could think. The Doctor then scanned them with the sonic, while Marianne watched the monitors.

"We need to be ready for whatever's coming up." She called. "Elliot, I need a map of the village, marking where the cameras are going." She told the boy kindly.

"I can't do the words. I'm dyslexic." Elliot explained.

"Oh, that's all right." Marianne grinned. "I can't make a good meringue. Draw like your life depends on it, Elliot." She told him, clamping her hands on his shoulders before turning back to the monitor. Elliot grinned at his new friend and ran off to do as she said.

"6 minutes 40." The Doctor checked his watch and told everyone. Elliot drew his map as Rory and Ambrose continued to put up cameras.

Nasreen watched as the time counted down. Tony pulled up an overlay of the village.

"Works in quadrants, every movement sensor, and triplight we've got. If anything moves, we'll know." Tony called.

"Good lad." The Doctor grinned and slapped Tony on the back.

The Doctor was looking into Ambrose's van, looking for resources. Ambrose walked up to him, arms full of gardening implements and knives and anything that could have been used as a weapon.

"Oi! What are you doing?" Ambrose called cheerfully.

"Resources! Every little helps! Meals on wheels. What've you got here then, warmer in the front, colder in the back?" The Doctor grinned.

"Bit chilly for a hideout, mind." Ambrose told him. She set her weapons in the front of her van.

"What are those?" The Doctor demanded.

"Like you say, every little helps." Ambrose smiles.

"No! No weapons, it's not the way I do things." The Doctor told her.

"You said we're supposed to defend ourselves." Ambrose's smile faded.

"Oh, Ambrose, you're better than this. I'm asking nicely. Put them away." The Doctor grinned menacingly at her. The dark fury of a Time Lord.

He then walked back into the church, leaving Ambrose to contemplate what he'd told her.

Back in the church, Elliot handed Marianne his map.

"Look at that! Perfect! Dyslexia never stopped Da Vinci or Einstein, it's not stopping you." She grinned at him, looking at his well drawn map.

"I don't understand what you're going to do." Elliot admitted.

"Two phase plan. First, the sensors and cameras will tell us when something arrives. Second, if something does arrive, we use this to send a sonic pulse through that network of devices, a pulse while would temporarily incapacitate most things in the universe." Marianne explained lightly.

"Knock them out. Cool." Elliot nodded appreciatively.

"Lovely place to grow up, round here." Marianne smiled, looking down at herself.

"Suppose. I want to live in a city one day. Soon as I'm old enough, I'll be off." He explained.

"I was the same, where I grew up." Marianne nodded.

"Did you get away?" Elliot asked her.

"Yeah." Marianne nodded sadly.

"Do you ever miss it?" He then asked. Marianne paused, thinking.

"So much." She finally said.

"Is it monsters coming?" Elliot asked, just as the Doctor walked in. He walked to Marianne and hugged her from behind, his arms resting on her stomach. Marianne froze. "Have you met monsters before?" Elliot then asked.

"Yeah." Marianne nodded.

"You scared of them?" Elliot then asked.

"No!" The Doctor spoke up. "They're scared of us." He grinned. He kissed Marianne's shoulder before letting her go and walking away.

"Will you really get my dad back?" Elliot asked her.

"No question." Marianne promised him. She went back to the computer.

"I left my headphones at home." He called. Marianne gave him a thumbs up sign, and he went to get them. With one minute left.

Marianne was too distracted by what the Doctor did.

Meanwhile, the Doctor perched down next to Rory, who was putting a camera on a gravestone.

"How're you doing?" He asked gently.

"It's getting darker. How can it be getting dark so quickly?" Rory asked, watching as dark swirls blocked the sun.

"Shutting out light from within the barricade. Trying to isolate us in the dark. Which means... It's here." He said as they heard a deep rumbling sound.

"It's here!" They both heard Marianne shout really loudly, and the Doctor laughed. It was rather obvious that it was there.

The Doctor, Rory and Ambrose headed back indoors, but Ambrose was having trouble with the door. The Doctor tried to help, leaving Rory behind them doing nothing.

"Any time you want to help!" The Doctor exclaimed sarcastically.

"Can't you sonic it?" Rory asked.

"It doesn't do wood!" The Doctor refuted.

"That is rubbish." Rory hissed.

"Oi! Don't diss the sonic!" The Doctor shouted at him, pointing at him.

Rory rolled his eyes and went to the door to help.

They finally opened the door and joined Marianne, Nasreen and Tony indoors. The ground was shaking violently due to the impending arrival.

"It's here." Marianne grinned at the Doctor with wide eyes.

"We know. We heard you screeching it before." He joked, and she frowned at him. "Right, let's see if I can get a fix."

The Doctor ran to the computer where Mari was stood. Items began to fall off the shelves and the Doctor narrowed down the area where the intruders were coming with the program that Tony had set up before. The computers then sparked as the power went out.

"No power." Tony sighed.

"It's deliberate." The Doctor nodded, frustrated.

"What do we do now?" Rory asked.

Tony turned on a bright torch.

"Nothing. We've got nothing. They sent an energy surge to wreck our systems!" Marianne hissed.

"Is everyone okay? Is anyone hurt?" Rory asked dutifully.

"I'm fine." Nasreen nodded.

"I'm good."

"Me too." Ambrose said. There was a loud rumbling nearby.

"What was that?" Rory asked.

"It's like the holes at the drill station." Tony realised.

"Is this how they happened?" Nasreen asked. The Doctor knelt down to listen to the ground.

"It's coming through the final layer of earth." The Doctor told them.

"What is?" Nasreen asked. Marianne quickly helped the Doctor up, and there was silence.

"The banging's stopped." Tony broke that silence. Ambrose suddenly frantically looked around the room.

"Where's Elliot? Has anyone seen Elliot? Did he come in? Was he in when the door was shut? Who counted him back in? Who saw him last?" Ambrose screeched. Marianne paled and breathed shakily.

"I did." She said quietly, tears forming in her eyes and a hand moving to her stomach.

"Where is he?" Ambrose asked.

"He said he was going to get headphones." She whispered, thinking hard about something she didn't want to think about, her other hand moving to her stomach too.

"And you let him go? You let him go on his own? What the Hell were you thinking? What's wrong with you?!" Ambrose yelled, as a few tears slid down Marianne's face. The Doctor frowned at what she was doing, her hands on her stomach, and figuring that it was a sign of nervousness, he put his arm around her shoulder.

Tony and Ambrose dashed off to the door.

"Why're you crying? He'll be fine." The Doctor assured her.

"Oh, God." Marianne said. "You don't understand." She told him, shrugging his hand off her and joining Ambrose and Tony at the door.

Rory had realised, by then, and was frowning.

Elliot was pounding on the door.

"Mum! Grandpa! Let me in!" He bashed on the door. "Let me in."

"Help us!" Ambrose yelled to those behind her.

"Open the door! There's something out here!" Elliot called. Everyone worked on the door, fingers whitening and teeth gritted as they tried to pull it open.

"Push, Elliot, push!" Ambrose called.

"Mum!" Elliot whimpered.

"Hurry up!" Ambrose yelled to everyone.

"Mummy." Elliot cried.

"Come on!" Tony roared, and the door finally opened. When they rushed outside, Elliot had gone and there was nothing or nobody there.

"Where is he?" Ambrose asked, running outside. "He was here. Elliot." She ran into the graveyard.

"Ambrose, don't go running off." The Doctor called after her.

"Ambrose!" Tony ran after his daughter. Meanwhile, Rory put a supportive arm around Marianne.

Ambrose, in the woods, spotted her sons headphones and she screamed.

A creature from behind knocked her down. "Get off me!" Ambrose yelled at whatever it was.

The creature began to scan her, but Tony knocked the thing off his daughter. The reptilian thing lashed out with its tongue, getting Tony in the neck before running away. Tony bent down in pain.

"Dad!" Ambrose panicked. The Doctor, Marianne and Rory ran up.

"What happened?" The Doctor asked.

"My dad's hurt." Ambrose called.

"Get him into the church now." The Doctor ordered.

"Elliot's gone. They've killed him, haven't they?" Ambrose demanded.

"I don't think so." The Doctor assured her. "They've taken three people, when they could've just killed them up here. There's still hope, Ambrose, there is always hope." The Doctor told her.

"Then why've they taken him?" She cried.

"I don't know. I'll find Elliot, I promise. But first I've gotta stop this attack. Please get inside the church." The Doctor pleaded.

"Come on, Dad." Ambrose said, shakily helping Tony back into the church.

"So, what now?" Rory asked.

The Doctor walked down the street wearing sunglasses. They picked up heat signatures. He waved his hand in front of his eyes and it glowed red in his sunglasses. He smiled, until he saw something move in the bushes, something that didn't give off any heat.

"Cold blood." He said. "I know who they are." He said in a sing-song voice.

The Doctor stood by Ambrose's van, whistling slightly to coax whatever it was to go to him. He took a fire extinguisher from the front seat and shut the door. He could see behind him in the reflection in the window of the van, and so when it went to attack him, he used the fire extinguisher on it. The creature screamed and Rory jumped from the back of the van, yelling. They both pushed the creature into the back and locked the door.

"We've got it!" Rory exclaimed triumphantly.

"Defending the planet with meals on wheels!" The Doctor laughed. They went to high five each other, but were stopped when they heard a rumbling noise.

"What was that?" Marianne poked her head out of the church.

"Sounds like they're leaving." The Doctor called back.

"Without this one?" Rory asked.

"Ah, you got it! It worked!" Marianne grinned from the door, giving a thumbs up sign to the boys. The darkness disappeared and the sun shone down on them again.

"Looks like we scared them off!" Rory exclaimed.

"I don't think so. Now both sides have hostages." The Doctor nodded. Marianne walked out of the church and joined the boys.

"I've met these creatures before, different branch of species, but all the same..." The Doctor trailed, entering the basement door where they'd put the thing.

"Are you sure, by yourself?" Rory asked.

"With me." Marianne smiled. The creature was sat on the floor, in the shadows.

"But the sting..." Rory trailed, looking especially at Marianne.

"Venom gland takes at least 24 hours to recharge." The Doctor explained. "Am I right?" He asked the creature. "I know what I'm doing. We'll be fine." The Doctor told him.

Rory nodded and left them to it, and they both walked down the remaining steps to the floor.

The creature was a reptile, with large black eyes on a mask and was wearing some kind of chain mail. With bound hands it moved towards them both.

"I'm the Doctor, this is Marianne. I'm going to remove your mask." He warned the creature.

The Doctor took the mask off, revealing a green scaly humanoid face.

"You are beautiful." The Doctor complimented. "Remnant of a bygone age on planet Earth. And by the way, lovely mode of travel! Geothermal currents, projecting you up through a network of tunnels. Gorgeous!" He exclaimed.

"Your people have a friend of ours. We want her back. Why did you come to the surface?" Marianne asked.

"How many are you?" The Doctor then asked.

"I'm the last of my species." The creature replied.

"No. You're really not. We're the last of our species and we know how it sits in the heart. So don't insult us. Tell us your name." Marianne snapped.

"Alaya."

"How long has your tribe been sleeping under the Earth, Alaya? It's not difficult to work out. You're 300 million years out of your comfort zone. Question is, what woke you now?" He asked.

"We were attacked." Alaya snapped.

"The drill." Marianne realised.

"Our sensors detected a threat to our life support systems. The warrior class was activated to prevent the assault. We will wipe the vermin from the surface and reclaim our planet." Alaya spat.

"Do we have to say vermin? They're really very nice." Marianne sighed.

"Primitive apes." Alaya hissed.

"Extraordinary species. You attack them, they'll fight back. But, there's a peace to be brokered here. I can help you with that." The Doctor assured her.

"This land is ours. We lived her long before the apes." Alaya reasoned.

"Doesn't give you an automatic right to it now, I'm afraid. Humans won't give up the planet." The Doctor broke to her.

"So we destroy them." Alaya shrugged.

"You underestimate them." Marianne laughed dryly.

"One tribe of homo reptilia against six billion humans, you've got your work cut out." The Doctor told her.

"We did not initiate combat. But we can still win." Alaya promised.

"Tell us where our friend. Give us back the people who were taken." Marianne told her darkly, arms crossed.

"No." Alaya smiled.

"I'm not going to let you provoke a war, Alaya. There'll be no battle here today." The Doctor told her, holding hands with Mari and they walked to the door.

"The fire of war is already lit. A massacre is due." Alaya grinned.

"Not while we're here." Marianne told her.

"I'll gladly die for my cause. What will you sacrifice for yours?" Alaya asked. Without a word, they both turned and left her to it.

"You're going to do what?" Rory demanded.

"We're going to go down below the surface, to find the rest of the tribe. Talk to them." Marianne nodded, smiling.

"You're going to negotiate with those aliens?!" Ambrose asked, surprised.

"They're not aliens! Once known as the Silurian race, or some would argue. Homo reptilia. Not monsters, not evil. Well, as evil as humans. The previous owners of the planet, that's all." The Doctor explained.

"From their point of view, you're the invaders. Drilling was threatening their settlement. Now, the one if the basement is called Alaya. She's one of their warriors, and she's our best bargaining chip. She has to stay alive. If she lives then so does Elliot and Mo and Amy." Marianne explained to them all.

"While we're gone, your four people, in this church, in this corner of planet Earth, you have to be the best of humanity." The Doctor told them, and Marianne smiled.

"What if they come back? Shouldn't we be examining this creature, dissecting it, finding its weak points?" Tony frowned.

"No dissecting! No examining! We return their hostage, they return ours. Nobody gets harmed. We can land this together. If you are the best you can be." The Doctor told them.

"You are decent, brilliant people. Nobody dies today. Understand?" Marianne asked. Everybody quietly nodded. Nasreen applauded but stopped when nobody joined in and instead pretended to examine her nails.

The Doctor and Marianne headed back to the TARDIS, with Nasreen running behind them.

"No, sorry, what're you doing?" The Doctor asked.

"Coming with you, of course! What is this, some kind of transport pod?" Nasreen asked enthusiastically.

"Sort of, but you're not... Coming with me!" He exclaimed as Tony joined them too.

"I have spent all my life excavating the layers of this planet. And now you want me to stand back while you head down into it. I don't think so!" Nasreen exclaimed, excitedly.

"I don't have time to argue!" The Doctor checked his watch.

"I thought we were in a rush." Nasreen nodded.

"It'll be dangerous." Marianne told her.

"Oh, so's crossing the road." Nasreen shrugged nonchalantly.

"Oh, for goodness' sake, all right then! Come on!" The Doctor unlocked the TARDIS and they walked in.

"Come back safe." Tony told Nasreen.

"Of course." She replied, joining them in the TARDIS and shutting the door behind her. She did a double take upon entering the ship. The Time Lords were stood at the console.

"Welcome aboard the TARDIS. Now don't touch anything! Very precious!" The Doctor told her, smiling at her reaction. She was walking around, glancing around at every little detail with wide eyes and an open mouth.

"But that's... This is..." She slapped the Doctor's arm. "Fantastic!" She laughed. "What does it do?" She asked.

"Everything." Marianne grinned. "I'm hoping, if we're going down, the barricade won't interfere." She said.

The TARDIS suddenly pitched drastically. The three of them clung to the TARDIS desperately.

"Did you touch something?" The Doctor yelled at Nasreen over the noise of the TARDIS.

"No! Isn't this what it does?" She yelled back.

"I'm not doing anything! We've been hijacked! I can't stop it! They must've sensed the electromagnetic field. They're pulling the TARDIS down into the Earth!" The Doctor yelled helplessly.

They held onto the console and yelled rather loudly. The TARDIS landed and the three fell to the floor.

Marianne glanced up at the Doctor and snapped his braces.

"Oi." He told her seriously, before smirking and pulling her hair gently.

"Where are we?" Nasreen asked. The Doctor stood, helped Mari up and ran for the door. Nasreen followed.

The three stepped out of the TARDIS into a sort of cave with roots and shoots covering the walls. Nasreen stepped out and water dripped on her head. She moved out of the way and the Doctor whistled in amazement while Marianne grinned.

"Looks like we fell through the bottom of their tunnel system. Don't suppose it was designed for handling something like this." The Doctor shrugged.

"How far down are we?" Marianne asked him.

"A lot more than 21km." He told her, looking right into her eyes.

"So why aren't we burning alive?" Nasreen broke their moment.

"Don't know. Interesting, isn't it?" He grinned at her.

"It's like this is everyday to you!" Nasreen laughed, startled.

"Not every day. Every other day." Marianne smiled proudly.

The Doctor and Marianne both began walking off down a tunnel at exactly the same time.

"How do you do that?" Nasreen asked, running to follow.

"Do what?" The Doctor asked.

"You're so in sync. You just move together at the same time. It's weird." Nasreen smiled, bemused.

"We're soul mates." The Doctor shrugged nonchalantly.

"What, like real soul mates?" Nasreen asked.

"Yep." Marianne nodded. "It's quite nice, really." She allowed.

"Now, we're looking for a small tribal settlement. Probably housing a dozen homo reptilia. Maybe less." The Doctor told the girls.

Nasreen looked at something bathed in golden light and stopped following them.

"One small tribe." She said slowly.

"Yeah." Marianne called back..

"Maybe a dozen?" She asked. The Doctor and Mari walked to join her.

"Ah." The Doctor said, and Marianne smirked at her.

Below them was a large community, verging on a city, with golden buildings and monuments.

"Maybe more than a dozen. Maybe more like an entire civilization living beneath the Earth." Marianne amended.

**Thanks for being so patient with me! Hope you liked it. I liked writing this one. And please, if you've realised what's going on with Marianne, don't comment it! If you know, just leave like a * or something. I don't want you to give it away to people who might not know :D But yeah, leave a star so I know if you've got it. Ooh, exciting!**

**Love you lots.**

**-Fay xox**

**PS- Only four exams left and then you've got me all to yourselves! **


	21. Chapter 20

The Doctor, Marianne and Nasreen were walking along pathways above molten magma and past beautiful and grand buildings.

"This place is enormous and deserted. The majority of the race are probably still asleep." The Doctor explained, taking out his sonic screwdriver and using it to scan the surroundings. "We need to find Amy, looking for heat signature anomalies."

"But Doctor, how can all this be here? I mean, these plants." Nasreen breathed, looking around in a daze.

"Must be getting closer to the city." Marianne noted as they continued to walk on the paths.

"You're sure this is the best way to enter?" Nasreen asked, concerned.

"Front door approach! Definitely. Always the best way..." The Doctor trailed, just as an alarm sounded and a female voice came over a speaker system.

"Hostile life force detected, area 17." It said.

"Apart from the back door approach, that's also good. Sometimes better." Marianne told her Bond, and he sighed as they turned around. A door slid open and armed Silurian soldiers ran through the door. The Doctor and Mari immediately raised their hands/

"We're not hostile. We're not armed!" The Doctor promised. "We're here in peace." He insisted. The soldiers shot gas from their weapons and the three of them fell to the floor, unconscious.

Marianne awoke first, clamped to an upright chair. She looked around her. The Doctor and Nasreen were still unconscious, but safe.

She looked in front of her to see two Silurians, and one of them started a machine that began to scan her.

She began to yell out. "Please don't! Not me!" She yelled through gritted teeth. "Please, not this. It's dangerous! I'm..." She trailed, but stopped when she noticed that the Doctor was waking up. The Silurian turned the machine off and walked over to her. He looked at her.

"You're what?" He asked.

She whispered something in his ear and his eyes grew wide. He didn't let her go from the chair, but Mari knew he wouldn't be scanning her anymore.

"How can they have escaped? This proves all prisoners should remain under military guard." The female Silurian said behind the other.

"I'm sure you'd prefer to be in charge of everything and everyone, Restac. But we rank the same. Is there any word from Alaya?" The other asked patiently.

"No." She snapped, turning to the Doctor and turning the machine on, causing it to scan him. He began to writhe in pain and cry out in agony.

"Stop it!" Marianne screeched.

"It's fine to show concern, you know. She's part of your gene-chain." The nicer Silurian told Restac. "I'm decontaminating now." He told her.

"Decontamination! No!" The Doctor yelled, writhing once more.

"It's all right. It won't harm you. I'm only neutralising all your ape bacteria." The nice Silurian, Malokeh, assured him.

"I'm not an ape! Look at the scans! Two hearts! Totally different! Totally not ape! Remove all human germs, you remove half the things keeping me alive." The Doctor panicked, yelling still.

Malokeh checked the scans and turned the machine off, letting both the Doctor and Mari to relax slightly.

"You okay?" Marianne called to him. He nodded and smiled at her.

"No, complete the process." Restac snapped maliciously.

"Oh, that's much better, thanks! Not got any celery, have you? No, not really the climate. I'm the Doctor, she's Marianne, and there's Nasreen, good!" He exclaimed wearily.

Malokeh walked over to examine Nasreen.

"Oh, a green man." Nasreen cooed as she woke up.

"Who are you?" Marianne called.

"Restac. Military commander." Restac snarled.

"Oh, dear, really? There's always a military." Mari sighed.

"Your weapon was attacking the oxygen pockets above our city." Malokeh explained calmly.

"Oxygen pockets, lovely!" The Doctor exclaimed. "But not so good with an impending drill. Now it makes sense!"

Malokeh nodded and continued to examine Nasreen.

"Where is the rest of your invasion force?" Restac demanded.

"Invasion force?" Marianne frowned. "No! We came for the humans you took. And to offer the safe return of Alaya." She smiled.

"You claim to come in peace, but you hold one of us hostage." Restac frowned. Restac motioned for soldiers to take position by the three of them.

"Wait, we all want the same thing here." The Doctor insisted.

"I don't negotiate with apes." Restac snapped. She turned to Malokeh. "I'm going to send a clear message to those on the surface." She explained.

"What's that?" Marianne asked sweetly.

"Your execution." Restac replied.

"Yes..." The Doctor trailed worriedly, glancing at Marianne nervously.

The three of them were being escorted through the city.

"These must be the only ones awake. The others must be in hibernation." The Doctor muttered.

"So, why did they go into hibernation in the first place?" Nasreen asked.

"Their astronomers predicted a planet heading to Earth on a crash course. They built life underground and put themselves to sleep for milennia to avert what they thought was the Apocalypse. Really, it was the moon coming into alignment with the Earth." The Doctor explained.

Restac stopped the stared at the Doctor, who had his arm around Marianne's shoulders.

"How can you know that?" Malokeh asked, shocked.

"Long time ago, I met another tribe of homo reptilia. Similar- but not identical." He explained.

"Others of our species have survived?" Restac breathed.

"The humans attacked then. They died, I'm sorry." The Doctor said after a pause.

"A vermin race." Restac spat, and they continued walking through the vast city.

Restac led them all into a courtroom, with Malokeh in tow.

"You're not authorised to do this!" Malokeh exclaimed.

"I'm authorised to protect the safety of our species while they sleep." She snarled.

"Oh lovely place. Very gleaming." The Doctor smiled as they looked around the shiny room, with large marble walls and floors, and a wooden table in the centre of the room. Pillars were dotted around the large room.

"This is our court and our place of execution." Restac explained.

Amy suddenly burst into the room, aiming a Silurian gun at Restac. "Let them go!" She yelled.

"Amy Pond, there's a girl to rely on." The Doctor sighed. Mo, Elliot's dad, entered from the other door.

"You're covered both ways, so don't try anything clever, buster." Amy smirked.

"Mo!" Nasreen grinned happily.

"Now let them go, or I shoot." Amy warned. Restac moved closer to Amy and snatched her gun back, pushing the girl to the floor.

"Don't you touch her!" Marianne yelled angrily. Soldiers approached Mo and he begrudgingly handed his gun over.

"All right, Restac, you've made your point." Malokeh sighed.

"This is now a military tribunal. Go back to your lab, Malokeh." Restac said nastily. A soldier jabbed Malokeh in the back with his gun. Malokeh glanced at Amy.

"This isn't the way." He informed Restac, before leaving.

"Prepare them for execution." Restac ordered.

The Doctor, Marianne, Nasreen, Amy and Mo were all tied to the pillars.

"OK, sorry, as rescues go, didn't live up to it's potential." Amy admitted, calling over from her pillar.

"We're just glad you're okay." Marianne grinned.

"Me too!" Amy exclaimed. "Lizard men, though!" She then said.

"Homo reptilia." The Doctor corrected. "They occupied the planet before humans. Now they want it back."

"After they've wiped out the human race." Nasreen added helpfully.

"Right, preferred it when I didn't know, to be honest." Amy sighed. The soldiers were lined up like a firing squad before them.

"Why are they waiting? What do you think they're gonna do with us?" Nasreen breathed.

The Doctor turned to Marianne who was on the same pillar as he. "What are you keeping from me?" He whispered, with an unknown threat behind his voice.

"Nothing." Marianne told him, a little too aggressively.

"I will find out, Marianne. You might as well tell me. You whispered something to Malokeh and then he didn't scan you. What's going on and why are you keeping secrets?" He demanded.

"Why are you talking to me like this?" Marianne hissed. "This isn't exactly the right time." She promised him, glancing at Amy who was listening to their conversation with a worried expression on her face.

"There's more important things going on right now, Doctor." Amy called.

"So Amy knows too?" The Doctor asked Marianne. Marianne glared at him. "Tell me!" He exclaimed.

"Why do you want to know?" Marianne asked. He shrugged. "I don't _want_ to tell you." She then said, knowing he'd probably ignore her for the rest of the day once she said that.

And that's what he did. He jutted his jaw out and turned his head, trying to hide his hurt. Amy sighed, and Marianne closed her eyes.

Restac brought up a large screen in the middle of the hall, and this stopped the awkward silence. The group could see Ambrose, Rory and Tony looking rather sheepish.

"Oh, my God." Ambrose squeaked on the screen.

"Who is the ape leader?" Restac demanded. The three humans looked at each other and Rory stepped forwards.

"I speak for the... Humans. Some of us, anyway." Rory stuttered.

"Do you understand who we are?" Restac demanded.

"Sort of. A bit. Not really." Rory admitted.

"We have ape hostages." Restac snarled, and Rory could see finally Amy and company.

"Amy! Mari! Doctor!" He exclaimed.

"Mo! Are you okay?" Ambrose called.

"I'm fine, love. I've found Elliot. I'm bringing him home!" Mo promised.

"Amy! I thought I'd lost you!" Rory grinned.

"What, cos I was sucked into the ground? You're so clingy." Amy joked, smirking at him.

"Tony Mack!" Nasreen grinned.

"Having fun down there?" Tony asked, smiling slightly.

"Not to interrupt, but just a quick reminder to stay calm." Marianne called, nodding.

"Show me Alaya. Show me and release her, immediately. Unharmed, or we we will kill your friends, one by one." Restac ordered.

"No!" Ambrose yelled angrily.

"Steady now." Marianne warned. The Doctor was still glaring at the floor angrily.

"Ambrose, stop it!" Tony told Ambrose.

"Let Rory deal with this, Ambrose. Eh?" Marianne asked, nodding at Rory.

"We're not doing what you say anymore. Now give me back my family!" Ambrose shrieked. Everyone watched tensely for Restac's reply.

"No." She finally said. "Execute the two girls." Restac ordered. Two soldiers grabbed and moved both Amy and Marianne.

"Don't you dare harm them." The Doctor thundered. "Rory, you do as she says!" He yelled.

"She's not speaking for us!" Rory shoved Ambrose aside desperately. Marianne had grown pale.

"Rory!" Amy yelled.

"Listen, whatever you want, we'll do it!" Rory insisted, watching the two girls be pushed into the centre of the room and the soldiers follow.

"Aim." Restac ordered.

"Amy!" Rory yelled.

"Marianne." The Doctor groaned, slamming his head on the pillar with agitation. "Don't do this!" He yelled, the angriest he'd ever been,

"No!" Rory cried.

"Fire!" Restac yelled. The girls grabbed each others hand and closed their eyes.

"Marianne!" The Doctor yelled, the force at which he was applying to the chains holding him back actually managing to snap them. He ran in front of her and closed his eyes, aiming to block the shot going her way.

"Stop!" A man shouted angrily. Marianne opened her eyes to find Malokeh enter the room with a male, who looked to be a Silurian elder.

"You want to start a war while the rest of us sleep, Restac?" The elder demanded.

"The apes are attacking us!" Restac insisted.

"You're our protector, not our commander, Restac. Unchain them." The elder, Eldane, ordered.

"I do not recognize your authority at this time, Eldane." Restac snarled.

"Well, then, you must shoot me." Eldane said, bemused, challenging her. Restac marched to Malokeh, frustrated.

"You woke him to undermine me." She told him.

"We're not monsters." Malokeh shook his head. "And neither are they." He then informed her.

"What is it about you that loves them so much?" Restac demanded.

"While you slept, they've evolved. I've seen it for myself." Malokeh smiled.

"We used to hunt apes for fun. When we came underground, they bred and polluted this planet." Restac yelled.

"Shush now, Restac, go and play soldiers. I'll let you know if I need you." Eldane brushed her away. Restac glared at them all.

"You'll need me, and then we'll see." She snarled as she marched away. As they were unchained, the Doctor brought the screen up again.

"Rory!" The Doctor grinned.

"Where's Amy?" Rory demanded.

"She's fine, look, here she is." He assured him, and Amy grinned at Rory.

"Keeping you on your toes!" She teased shakily.

"No time to chat. Listen, you need to get down here... Go to the drill storeroom, there's a large patch of earth in the middle of the floor. The Silurians are going to send up transport discs to bring you back down using geothermal energy and gravity bubble-technology. It's how they travel and frankly it's pretty cool. Bring Alaya. We hand her over, we can land this after all. All going to work, promise. Got to dash! Hurry up!" The Doctor rambled, and he turned the screen off.

As soon as he did so, Marianne stood in front of him, frowning.

"What were you doing?" She demanded.

"Talking to Rory." He replied coldly.

"No. You stood in front of me to take the bullet." She told him.

"Oh, that." He shrugged. Marianne groaned at him and hugged him to her, whispering something in his ear as she did so. He froze, and she stepped back to gauge his reaction.

"What's going on?" Amy asked them both breezily.

"We're having a baby!" The Doctor suddenly grinned. "How _cool_ is that?" He asked Amy, and she grinned at him too.

"I know!" She exclaimed.

"A tiny thing with arms and legs and eyes and stuff." He added.

"I know!" Amy laughed again. They began jumping up and down excitedly, with Marianne simply watching, a little confused as to what they were doing.

"A real life person." The Doctor concluded, grinning like a dopey idiot. Marianne sighed and walked away, walking to Eldane.

"I think a peace talk is in order." She told him and the elder nodded in agreement back at her.

Amy and Nasreen were sat on one side of the large table with Eldane on the other. Peace talk.

The Doctor had a hand on Marianne's stomach, and he hadn't taken it off there in about ten minutes. Stood next to them was Mo and Malokeh.

"I'd say you've got a fair bit to talk about.." He said, still grinning.

"How so?" Eldane asked.

"You both want the planet. You both have a genuine claim to it." Marianne explained.

"Are you authorised to talk on behalf of humanity?" Eldane asked the Time Lords.

"No! But they are." The Doctor laughed, still very happy.

"What?!" Nasreen exclaimed, surprised.

"Course you are! Amelia Pond and Nasreen Chaudhry, speaking for the planet. Humanity couldn't have better ambassadors. Come on, who has more fun than us?" Marianne grinned, making the Doctor let her go by sitting at the opposite end of the table. Amy walked over to her.

"Is this what happens, in the future, the planets gets shared? Is that what we need to do?" She asked quietly. Nasreen heard them and also walked over with the Doctor.

"What are you talking about?" She asked.

"Oh, Nasreen, sorry. Probably worth mentioning. We travel in time." Marianne smiled.

"Anything else?" Nasreen asked calmly.

"There are fixed points through time, where things must always stay the way they are. This is not one of them. This is an opportunity, a temporal tipping point. Whatever happens today, will change future events, create its own timeline, its own reality. The future pivots around you. Here. Now. So do good. For humanity, and for Earth."

"Right. No pressure there then." Amy sighed, heading back to the part of the table where Eldane was sat.

"We can't just share the planet. Nobody on the surface is going to go for this idea. It is just too big a leap!" Nasreen insisted.

"Come on. Be extraordinary." Marianne urged gently.

"Oh..." Nasreen groaned. "You..." She finished, sighing and walking back to the table.

"Ok." The Doctor slapped the table. "Bringing things to order- the first meeting of representatives of the human race and homo reptilian is now in session. Ha! Never said that before, that's fab! Carry on." He said cheerfully.

"Now, Mo, let's go and get your son." Marianne said, and she, the Doctor, Mo and Malokeh left them to it.

"Pregnant though." The Doctor murmured to Marianne.

"I know, dear." She sighed. He'd been saying things like that to her for the past twenty minutes.

"Why didn't you want to tell me?" He asked.

"Well, you haven't exactly dealt with that news well in the past." She reminded him. He blanched.

"Oh." He realised, and grabbed her hand. "You know that was a mistake. I've changed. You're too important to me to be stupid like that again." He promised her, kissing her hand. "I'll be good to you, and that little baby thing!" He grinned again, looking at her stomach with wide eyes. "A _baby_ though. Fantastic." He laughed.

**Thanks to everyone who gave little *'s. There was really no point keeping it a secret because it was pretty obvious in the first place. Thanks though, you're all wonderful!**

**-Fay xox**


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